The Wilde West
by biopheonix4810
Summary: Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps are two different mammals, brought together by the tragedies in their lives. When yet another horror occurs they must work together to stop the source. (On Temporary hiatus.) (Cover Art by TheWyvernsWeaver.)
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: Zootopia and It's characters are property of the wonderful people at Disney, this is a fanfiction meant to be entirely non-profit._

 _Second Disclaimer: There will be violence and blood in this story._

 _A/N:Right, here it is, I promised and here it is, part 1 of the rewritten prologue, which I hope you all enjoy. Also to the kind reviews and follows and favorites that happened while i was re-working this, thank you, I expected a very different reaction from the one I received, and it is immensely encouraging to see people actively interested in this story. However I have news, I'm starting school on the sixth of September, however I don't expect mountains of homework as I am only a senior in high school, also I intend to have this story finished by the end of the school year, more on that if I needed, and updates will come if I am unable to post a chapter on Friday's as I have promised._

Prologue I

October 17, 1873

Nicholas Piberius Wilde groaned as his mind shifted to a conscious state. The first thing he noticed was the pain. Or more accurately the lack thereof. Which was interesting, considering he was lying on his back, where he had received the brunt of his "punishment". The punishment in question being 50 lashes from a particularly cruel variation of a Cat-o-Nine-Tails. The usual nine cords were present but the rest was simply barbaric. Each of the nine cords was tipped with a metal bulb, each of which had four razors attached to the bulb.

Nick chuckled ruefully, the posse had rushed into the town of Respite with a vengeance, they were tracking a murderer, according to them, and Nick had received the blame. Never mind that the murderer in question was in the saloon across the street from Nick's office. Never mind that the murderer in question was known to be a wolverine. Never mind that Nick was the town's Marshall. It all simply hadn't mattered to the posse, all of whom were 'prey'. All that had mattered was that Nick was a Fox and that, apparently, the only way he could have a Marshall's badge was to have stolen. Nick knew there was no point in fighting, there were thirty of them against just himself, and while he was good, he wasn't _quite_ _that_ _good_ , besides he could survive the lashes. And he had. He hadn't screamed either, refusing to give the bastards the satisfaction. This however made the posse collectively angrier. Apparently assault on an officer of the law was not satisfactory, only murder was. They then dragged Nick to the Lost River on the west side of town, and threw him in, if the rapids didn't kill him, then the river going underground would.

Nick groaned again and found he had the strength to sit up and open his eyes, so he did, to not find what he was expecting. Green. It was everywhere, which didn't make sense, Respite was in the middle of brown-grass plains, even in spring the most vibrant colours were only yellow, with the occasional Pinyon Pine adding a spot of drab green along the river. Green grass, trees with green leaves, flowers. A log cabin some feet away to his left, with a laughing brook to his front, his hind paws at the edge of the bank. Nick looked down at himself, and was again surprised. He felt no pain, yet he could the wounds inflicted by the lashing, and felt them when he reached around to feel his back, with every wound his felt or touched oozing blood. A small yellow finch landed nearby and began chirping excitedly. At least Nick had thought it was, the finch's was moving rather animatedly after all. It was then Nick noticed the dull roar, almost like being underwater….

Nick's head burst above the choppy river, his senses being overwhelmed from the pain and the roar of the river which beginning to recede. His whole body felt weak and as if it were on fire, and his limbs moved sluggishly as he kept his head above water, like he was in molasses instead. Nick took this respite, to look around, and breath. To his front was stretch of wide smooth river flowing lazily, as though nothing were wrong in the world. What lay behind Nick made him count his lucky stars, the rapids. It was then he vaguely recalled being smashed into a rock and everything going black. To his right was a sheer cliff face hundreds of paces high. And to his left a stretch of smooth sandy beach.

Nick moved, slowly and painfully, and somehow managed to get the bank. There he collapsed, after dragging himself out of the river on all fours too tired to stand.

"Hell-blasted Mondays."

=8=

The first thing Nick noticed was he was aware, acutely so. So much in fact that he gained a full mental picture of the area surrounding him simply by lying, listening, and sniffing. He was in the same little paradise as before, except now he could actually hear the birds sing, without the dull roar of being underwater. He sat up. And again he noticed his wounds. Still there, still oozing blood, yet painless. He looked around, the clearing was the same for the most part, there was only one difference this time. This difference came in the form of an old Coyote, weathered, and wise looking, with a curious coat of black fur, and just curious a robe of black silk. He sat under one of the many trees along the river, with a fishing rod in one paw, and an interestingly shaped cane by his side. Despite being old, there was an air about the Coyote, a curious one. One that made Nick want to lay his secrets bare for the old Coyote to freely judge. This confused Nick, he didn't have any _dark_ secrets, and he'd always been one to play his hand close. Nick tried to stand, only to find he couldn't remember how to stand. Well his mind remembered, but his body did not. After the third attempt Nick gave up, and simply walked over to the old Coyote on all fours. He lay down a few paces away, far enough to be polite, but close enough to hold conversation.

"Excuse me sir, but, where are we?" Nick asked politely as he could.

"Well aren't you a polite one?" The Coyote turned and chuckled, looked at Nick for a few seconds and then turned back to his fishing.

Nick considered speaking to that but then reconsidered. The Coyote had clearly heard him, and had even acknowledged the question. So the Coyote was being rude, except he wasn't, he hadn't answered Nick, but he hadn't dismissed him either. And then there was the Coyote's cane that looked familiar…. Nick thought carefully as to where he had seen that shape before, it was from when he was young, and had worked the fields of his family farm, it was tool, specifically used in the wheat fields a…. _Scythe_. The old age, black fur, and black robe suddenly held a new meaning to Nick. Foxes had legends about this, Foxes who would live blessed lives after meeting Death in youth. Which confused Nick, he was young, only twenty-two after all, but he was hardly a youth. Well, he didn't consider himself a youth. He had signed with the Marshall's at fifteen, to seek justice for his father and mother who had been gunned down by another mammal, simply for being Foxes.

Nick scowled slightly, thinking about how his family, himself included, seemed to have bad experiences with prey simply because who they born as. But that was something he consider later. Right now he was sitting in front of Death himself, Death who was now looking at Nick with a bemused expression. 'Alright old timer,' Nick thought to himself. 'You want to play a game? Let's play a game of masks and dice.' Nick simply stared back, setting his face into a half-lidded smirk, his muzzle forming a sloppy grin.

"How's the fishing?" Death nodded at Nick's question.

"Poor, It's as if the Fish don't like me." Nick simply 'hmm'ed at Death's reply, non-committedly.

"Paradise, and though you don't know it, a certain mammals missing." This caught Nick's attention and he was tempted to ask, then remembered who his company was. 'That was rather straight forward' Nick thought.

"Hmm, I don't know….I guess _we'll_ see." Nick shrugged back crossing his front paws, wounds still present, and laid his head down. Though as he did so, something rather curious happened, Nick felt as though he were suddenly a fish, looking up at Death.

"I suppose we shall." With that, Death threw Fish-Nick, with something that looked like a scythe passing by his eye, into the stream Death had been fishing out of.

=88=

It was going to be hot today. It was quite clear to the Coyote since the sun had been above the horizon for an hour and he was already panting with the heat and exertion of the day. The clan had risen early, even earlier than normal, so as to begin moving to the winter camp. As such he had been up since well before dawn, though it was time for him to get a move on, as he was a scout, one of many who would be spread out in front of the tribe making sure the path to the winter camp was clear, his route being specifically along what the Foreigners called the Lost River. The Coyote chuckled to himself at the thought, as much as the Foreigners knew they didn't know how to Listen. They were so sure of themselves individually that they didn't care to learn anything from those they deemed "Barbarous". And when a member of the Tribes tried to tell them the stories that, if listened too, would tell the Foreigners exactly how to find the 'lost' river, the Foreigners ignored them. The Coyote again snorted, it wasn't lost, it was underground, and if you dug a few paces into the ground, in certain places, you would find wet dirt, a few paces further and enough water to fill a water pouch. It was likely going to be muddy, but it was pure from rot and better than no water at all.

Fortunately that wasn't going to be a problem for the Coyote or his people, as they would traveling along the river south, for a time, and then head west into the mountains, hopefully before the first snows fell, though it was unlikely as late in the season as they were moving. The tribe usually began its movement around the middle of the paperman moon and arrived towards the beginning of the fall moon. This was not the case this winter, they were only beginning the movement in the _middle_ of the fall moon, and as such would likely have to set up lower in the mountains. This wouldn't be a problem, it would simply mean no warm baths as they would not have access to the hot springs, but better to be in the mountains than on the southern plains and desert when the winter storms came down the plains from the north. The Coyote chuckled again, the Foreigners thought that _every_ Tribe moved about for no reason, and then wondered why they could never find the Tribes in winter.

The Coyote grabbed his sling and pack and set off towards the river, he wouldn't be missed, several others had seen him as he left the camp. Soon after he dropped to all fours and began to move at a steady lope, fast enough to make decent time, but not so fast his paw falls would be too heavy to silence. Mammals around the world had retained the ability to walk on all fours despite thousands of years of evolution simply because it was more convenient to travel in such a manner. More paws hitting the ground meant the weight of whatever the mammal was carrying was more evenly distributed, when in the form of a properly made pack. That was another thing that the Coyote had found to be universal, even among the Foreigners, packs often hugged the torso of the body of whatever mammal they were designed for, having a pouch at the back and a vest with varying sizes of pockets at the sides and on the front, with traders usually having travois as well.

The easy yet steady lope allowed him to cover a fair amount of ground in a decent time, 35 miles shortly before midday. As such he decided to stop under a scraggly pinyon near the river bank to allow the noon sun to pass. There wasn't much to risk, his clans caravan would be doing the same, and this area wasn't known for having many snakes. His only real threats were of humiliation should he fall asleep and be found, which wasn't a concern as he was still active, whitling on a talisman, and Foreigners as they tended to fear the Numinu for reasons none of them cared to explain to him. He whittled the noon sun away, and he soon set out again, continuing to make his way along the river, slightly above the bank. He continued on well after dark, as between his night-vision, and the moonlight it was easy enough to say, though he did slow his pace, no sense, stepping on a snake.

The moon had recently risen when the Coyote found another mammal. The coyote stopped short near a collection of sage, and watched the unknown mammal carefully. The other mammal simply lay there, in a slightly awkward position that the Coyote found odd. As the Coyote was about to retrace his steps to leave a mark to let his clan know of the other mammal, the wind shifted carrying scents from the unknown mammal to the Coyote, the most prominent two being fox musk, giving the Coyote the unknown mammals species, and the sharp iron smell of fresh blood. This gave the Coyote pause. Blood meant the Fox was likely in trouble, so the Coyote decided to test that. He picked a small stone and threw it. It landed right next to the Fox, a bit harder and it would have hit the Fox. But there was no reaction. The Coyote uncertainly slide down the small but steep hill he had been on, and slowly made his closer to Fox, the smell of blood becoming almost overpowering. The Coyote continued his approach until he was right next to the Fox.

The reason for the strong smell of blood was, easily apparent. The Fox had severely beaten with…. _something_. The marks were like bruises except in the center of the bruises were uneven and oddly angled cuts, the fur around the wounds gone looking as if it had ripped out by whatever had been used against the Fox, the wounds were so numerous they crossed in many place and there was only an odd mat or two of fur left on the Foxes back. There were wounds of similar types on the Foxes forearms and legs. The Coyote couldn't see the Fox's chest as that was what the Fox was lying on. Albeit in an awkward position that made it clear the Fox also had wound on his chest.

The Coyote held his breath against the stench of blood and leaned close. Though shallow the Fox still drew breath. The Coyote made a decision and howled. The howl was one of distress, loud and long enough that his clan surely heard it. It took another twenty minutes, but his clanmates did arrive. He thanked the Great Spirit that they had brought Smiles Brightly, the fairly young boy who had begun to train as a medicine mammal. _Un_ fortunately they brought had brought Loud Wind, a warrior whose mistrust of the Foreigners, was slightly infamous, though it was often fairly placed and called for.

"What do you need?" Came Wind's question. "You appear to be fine."

"I do not need help, he does." The Coyote stepped out of the way, allowing them to see the Fox. The reaction was collective, even Loud Wind, a warrior of fifteen winters, winced at the sight of the Fox. Smiles Brightly walked forward and kneeled next to the Fox, listening to his breath, and inspecting the wounds as best he could.

"We will need a travois." Smiles Brightly said, in a low tone more focused on how he could help the Fox than the rapidly-becoming-heated conversation behind him.

"Why should we help this Foreigner, they make pacts, say we are equals, yet have you _ever_ been treated as an equal among them?"

"And if we leave one of them to die, we proof all that they say that is wrong about us correct."

"That is not our concern, if someone cared for the Foreigner he would not be here."

The back and forth continued, finally Smiles Brightly had enough.

"The Great Spirit says to respect _all_ life, Loud Wind," He stood from his position next to the Fox, and locked eyes with fellow Coyotes, making sure the message was clear. Loud Wind spoke first.

"I will fetch a travois."

=8=

The wheels of Nick's mind turned slowly, as he felt himself swim in the stream that Death had thrown him into. Slowly he became aware, the only thing he was aware of though, were his screams of pain, as he felt paws work across his back, arms, legs, sides, and the top left of his chest, sealing the wounds in those locations. He heard, but did not understand, the multiple voices around him. Shortly after he breathed something warm and moist, making him feel drowsy and he slowly slipped away.

Nick soon became used to this as something of a routine, become semi-conscious and be aware of the pain, yet from that point forward he managed to stop himself from screaming. His whole life simply consisted of the pain, though as time went on the pain lessoned. He supposed he was healing that was the only thing he could think of that would actively lesson the pain. One of the worst experiences was, who knows how long, after however was caring for him found him, was the itching as his fur started to regrow, as it itched like hell, yet he couldn't do anything about.

=8=

Nick groaned, as he woke from what seemed like an endless state of semi-consciousness. The first thing he became aware of was a noticeable lack of pain, other than a slightly dull ache in left shoulder. The second was the sounds around him, that sounded like whispering, that was most definitely not Common. He opened his eyes slowly, and as he did so he heard rapid whispering, and the hustle of paws headed away from him. He looked about, the first thing he noticed was that he was in a tipi, which surprised him with how spacious it was. The things had always looked cramped to Nick whenever he saw them either out on the plains, or when the local magistrate decided he needed protection from the "Barbarians". Nick snorted at that thought, the Tribes Mammals didn't attack unarmed mammals for no reason.

Nick looked over himself, and was slightly surprised, the fur around the wounds on arms, legs, and sides were all healed, with regrown fur covering the light scars Nick felt as he ran his paws over said body parts. He then reached his back, and hesitated. Nick shook his head, it was his back, no mammal was going to see it often….Besides those who clearly already had. He sighed lightly as he ran his paw over his back, the area of his body that had suffered the brunt of his ordeal. The skin was heavily scarred, so much so, it felt as though his back was a map of the Western Range. The fur wasn't as thin as he had expected, but it was no longer the thick coat that had covered his entire body, before all this had happened. He sighed, life would go on, and if his conversation, dream…. _Whatever_ it was, with who, or what maybe, he suspected was Death, his life was going to take a turn, from a Marshall based out of a trading post, that while busy, saw nothing extraordinary, to _very_ eventful.

Nick heard pawfuls approaching and turned from himself to the 'door', a cloth flap, that provided visual privacy. The flap was held open and two Coyotes walked inside, and sat down facing Nick, who studied the two. The first was young, and looked to be around Nick's own age he mused, and was relatively striking. He was broad shouldered, for Coyote, and well muscled, he wore the same white-tan cloth clothes that most Coyotes wore, made from the cotton that grew amongst their lands, which consisted of pants and sash that wrapped around the waist before diagonally crossing the Coyote chest, from left to right. The first Coyote's fur was the same as the second's, a brittle looking brown, with some crimson and cream stripes. Nick then shifted his gaze to the second Coyote, who looked just as impressive, the real difference being the noticeable amount of aged grey, and a robe that was covered with talismans and had several bags hanging of it, which the second coyote seemed occupied with looking inside one bag, looking at Nick, shaking his head and looking at another. Nick noticed that the first of the two Coyotes was busy looking at Nick the way he had at Coyotes. The stare down continued for a bit and Nick's face eventually formed into half-lidded smirk with a sloppy, uneven, grin on his face.

"Much as I appreciate the wholesome look you're giving me, but….you're not my type." The first Coyote frowned at this clearly understanding Nick. The coyotes frown deepened as he, apparently, explained what Nick had said to his elder, resulting in said elder giving a barking laugh and pointing at Nick, repeatedly, saying something, and laughing even more. Nick then leaned across the tipi to the halfway point and extended his right paw.

"Nicholas Wilde, and since I don't know the time, I'll simply say, 'good day'". Both Coyotes shook his paw in turn, and the younger of the two said something that Nick found incomprehensible. This caused Nick to shake his head.

"I'm sorry but what?" This caused the coyote to grin.

"My name is-" he then repeated the word, and while Nick recognized, that there was, indeed, a word spoken, he recognized that he wasn't going to be repeating it without butchering it.

"Do you mind if I just call you Jerome? You look like a Jerome, and I'm not going to try to repeat what you just said, because I know I'll butcher it." This caused the Coyote to laugh, a hearty and full sound, when he finally managed to stop, he nodded his head once.

"Yes, you may call me Jerome. But where are my manners? This is-" The Coyote then spouted off what Nick assumed to be the older Coyote's name, except it was three times longer than 'Jerome's' given name. Nick stared off into space for a second, and then shook his.

"No? Not going to try?"

"Nope." This resulted in hearty laughter coming from both Coyotes, as Nick simply shook his head. After the laughing died down, he decided to try and learn some things, where he was, being a good start.

"So, where are we?" Jerome acknowledged the serious tone, and while Nick's smirk was gone, his face was entirely neutral, and the rest of his body, had remained unnaturally still.

"High in the Mountains, I believe you call them the Western Range, this is our clans Winter Camp." It wasn't a specific location really, but at least Nick had _some_ idea where he was now.

"Speaking of your clan, who found me?"

"I did." Nick nodded appreciatively at Jerome, who simply returned the nod.

"So how am I supposed to repay the favor? I don't like being indebted, to _anyone_."

Jerome nodded his understanding, he had lived among the Foreigners for two years during his youth, his parents had been traders after all. He had learned that something like saving a mammal's life like Jerome had with Nick, usually brought with it a stigma that it was only fair to repay the favor. Jerome simply smiled.

"Teach me to shoot, if you can." This surprised Nick, Tribes Mammals were an odd bunch, notoriously traditional, but extremely tolerant of other ways life.

"Do you mind me asking why?" Jerome shrugged at this.

"Life can be boring in winter, there are only so many ways to approach the camp each of which is adequately watched, and there is no scouting to be done. Besides I read one of your books, ' _know your enemy and yourself'_ ". This made sense to Nick, but at the same time concerned him, he was a Marshall after all, it was his job to help and protect the mammals of the Frontier…' _ **Like they helped and protected you? Marshall for seven years, helped that town in so many ways you've forgotten all the ways you've helped. And how did the repay you, Nicky? Fifty lashes from an especially cruel nine-tails, you think anyones gonna care?'**_. The bitter thought surprised Nick, but it was true, Mammals didn't care, not about him, and at a guess it was the same reason his parents were shot.

"Sure," Nick looked up from his inner monologue, "I'll teach you to shoot."

=8=

It took a half a day to get Nick walking again, not because his legs had suffered serious damage, but because he hadn't used them in a month. Nick had also apparently impressed the Coyotes, since he had insisted on not being helped for that first half day. It took another 2 and half days to get off of the crutch. Nick was enjoying village life, it was….Satisfying, you woke up each day _knowing_ you were going to get something productive done. It wasn't something that was for him, but it reminded him of parents place, a hybrid between a farm and a poultry ranch, the satisfaction. Jerome proved to be _very_ good shot. The rifle Jerome had was actually a repeating carbine for a wolf, the specific model being a surprise, a .45-70 Henry that loaded five shells, six, if one was willing to risk a jam or misfire, which Nick highly praised. Jeromes accuracy was proved one afternoon after Nick had taught Jerome the importance of leading a moving target. Jerome had decided he had a better target than the one Nick had specified. The target had been the hind paws of one of Jerome's fellow scouts, who was surprised by the sudden ricochet that quite literally went between his legs. Jerome had dropped to ground in laughter, yelling 'Good Gun!'. Jerome's friend simply made a rude gesture and continued on his way, Nick just shook his head and said 'it's your gun'. It was a good day.

As winter continued to pass, Nick regained what little weight and strength he had lost, and while his fur completely covered all of his scars now, it was still quite thin on his back. He became well known in the camp, which wasn't surprising, he was the only fox there, and the only fox many of the Coyotes had ever seen, after all. And despite Nick teaching Jerome to shoot, he still felt as though a debt was still owed, not only to Jerome, who yes had initially saved him, but to this clan, the Chiricoyote'en, as they had all had a paw in making sure Nick had survived. So he helped around camp, doing little things, simply to lesson his unease at owing a debt. Though because of this, Jerome insisted on teaching Nick things like tracking, archery, weapons skills (mostly with knives, or axes), and fieldcraft, though Nick insisted he was trying to repay his debt to the clan, Jerome insisted on teaching Nick, who eventually gave up and took to the lessons eagerly.

=8=

It was silent, not quiet, not muted, silent. This was the first sign to Nick that something was wrong. Ever since the thaws had started, two weeks ago, there had been the sound of birds chirping in the morning air. Not this morning; Nick remained unmoving, every sense heightened due to a sense of unease he had never felt in the camp. Nick lay there for a solid hour, and began thinking nothing was wrong when the wind shifted. There was an unfamiliar scent on the wind, Nick moved silently about his tipi, gathering his things. He had been moved out of the Medicine Mammals tipi months ago, after he had abandoned the cane, and been given a significantly smaller tipi, but one that was large enough to hold all of the things Nick had been given while here.

He smiled at the time he spent and memories he had formed here. The Coyotes, after some initial misgivings had come to trust him, in a manner that he had never seen displayed towards him, even in Respite where practically everyone in town knew him, and knew he was a Marshall. Nick snorted at the thought of Respite, ' _ **Real friends, you lot were**_ '. That was a line of thinking that had become increasingly prevalent in Nick's mind. He looked around his Tipi, temporarily forgetting the sense of unease. There was his new utility sash, a few sets of clothes, his pack, and a dream catcher, all had been given to him by the tribe. It was amazing. What he found even more amazing was it simply in the Tribes custom to do so, they did expect repayment he had learned, but more in the terms of favors. Nick shook his head, despite what had happened to him several months ago, he considered himself lucky, he would always have friends in the clan, and over his time here he had learned enough from Jerome that he could find his way back should he ever need to.

Nick's thoughts were interrupted by a shadow on the flap of his tipi, causing Nick to grab his knife. It wasn't the shadow itself, it was that the shadow was shaped like a Tribal Badger. The stranger's scent confirmed what Nick thought, and he sprung.

Nick jumped through the flap tackling the badger to the ground, while barked the alarm at the top of his lungs, the reaction inside the camp was immediate, however Nick had other things to worry about. Namely the three badgers he was confronted with. The first which had been standing outside of tipi was taken by surprise by the sudden attack. Nick took advantage of this and bit into the badgers neck as they landed Nick on the bottom, filling his mouth with the taste of iron. Nick threw the soon-to-be dead badger off of him and rolled to the side throwing his knife simultaneously at one of the other badgers who attempted to dodge the projectile, the badger was successful to a degree, as the knife struck him in his right arm forcing him to drop his weapon and stunning him. Nick landed on all fours, growled instinctively and launched himself at the unwounded badger, who brought his left arm up shield his neck from the Fox's teeth. The impact knocked the badger on his back however, and Nick yanked the badgers arm with his muzzle still closed on it, resulting in a dislocated and unuseable arm for the badger. Nick swiped at the badgers eyes with his claws, who raised his right arm. It was a fatal mistake, as Nick took advantage of the distraction to close his maw around and tear out the badgers throat. Nick was about to turn when felt himself flying. The third badger had recovered and bull rushed Nick hitting him, and sending airborne, landing harshly against a pine, cracking a few ribs. Nick shook his head and looked to see the badger once again charging towards ulating a war cry with his hatchet raised. Nick waited until the last second then jumped, straight up, over seven paces in the air, clean over the rushing badger and landed behind him, almost silently. This confused the badger, one moment there had been an odd-looking and smallish Coyote on all four in front of him, the next, the Coyote was gone. He turned and the last thing he saw was Nick flying towards him, fangs bared.

Nick crawled off the third dead badger and looked around, the entire camp was a battleground, with war cry's piercing the very soul of the mountain air. Nick spotted Jerome who looked to be in trouble, fighting three badgers at once, and sprinted there on all fours. Combat was not the time to be civilized.

Jerome was in trouble, he was bleeding from a nasty claw wound on his left side courtesy of one of the three badgers he was fighting, Jerome was a good melee fighter but not that good. The two badgers on the left charged and he turned to face them, and realized too late it was a feint, as he was tackled from the right. The badger sat above Jerome and raised his hatchet bellowing a triumphant war cry, 'so this is it' he thought.

"Morning Jerry!"

The yell was unexpected by both Jerome and the badger, both turning to see who had yelled. All Jerome saw was a red streak flash by his eyes, and suddenly there was weight on his chest no more. Jerome looked over to see Nick clamping down on and tearing out the badgers throat. Nick rolled off the dead badger and grabbed the deceased's hatchet, throwing it and burying it in the chest of one of the other two badgers facing him and Jerome. Jerome charged the remaining badger, who did the sensible thing. He turned and ran. Jerome quickly grabbed his rifle, which had been knocked out of his paws in the initial melee and took aim, only to see brown gloved knock his aim off.

"There's been enough death today." Jerome turned to the gristly sight that was the fox Nicholas Wilde. There was blood covering him. His normally mauve nose, and cream colored chest, throat, and muzzle, were a deep liquid crimson. What struck Jerome was the wild and crazed look in his eyes….mixed with regret.

=8=

It had been a week since the raid by the badgers. It had been a bittersweet victory. While no one in camp was dead, the four sentries guarding the stream that came from the northwest had been found dead. Nick had become distant that week, and had made it known that he was leaving soon. Everyone in the clan found this new, brooding Nick worrying, as they had all become fond of him. Word had spread about how he had fought as well, as though he was feral, and every time Nick was asked he simply reply that it was his business and his business alone.

In another week the time came for the clan to leave the winter camp, and for Nick to leave the clan. Before he left however he pulled Jerome aside.

"I owe you an explanation." Nick started, Jerome simply nodded, and waited he knew this wouldn't be easy for the fox, as, while he friendly, funny, and social, he was a very private mammal.

"I'm like most mammals on the frontier, I got a sob story, but it's a long one and it doesn't matter right now. But I learned something, You kill a mammal, you not only take everything he has, you take everything he's ever going to have. Hell, that's not the half of it. I fought the way I did, because combat, and that's what that was, isn't _civilized_ , nor _should_ it be. There are two types of fights, one that settles problems, and one that _ends_ problems. The first type is admirable and okay. The second is uncivilized by its very nature and goal. So to hell with anyone who says I should fight the second way civilized, you want me dead, you better be ready to do _everything_ in your power to make me so, 'cause I _will_ do _everything_ in _my_ power to make _you_ dead."

Jerome was finding Nick scary, at this point, Nick wasn't ranting, far from it, he was just stating facts, it was de-mammalizing really, there was no emotion.

"That's why I've been distant," Nick was shaking his head. "Most think it's barbarous to fight like that, well so is killing, yet it happens _every_ day. The clan is the only group outside of family to not judge me for being a Fox, where my species didn't matter only my character did…"

Nick was interrupted by Jerome putting a paw on his shoulder.

"You fought that way in defense of the clan, you saved my life." Jerome chuckled. "You finally payed off that imaginary debt of yours." Jerome sighed, he had noticed Nick had everything packed and ready to go, he slapped his paw on Nick's back and gave Nick a grin, which was returned.

"You visit sometime, and don't let me find you like I did the first time."

"I will, and I don't intend to, stay safe, Jerry."

=8=

Nick had mixed feelings about his leaving the clan. He knew he would always have a home and friends there, and the months he had spent there were satisfying, he didn't feel as though he could make a life out of it. Hence his decision to leave.

It was most definitely spring, as insects hopped among the grass stalks that he had been trotting through for the past half day, and as the day wasn't too warm he decided to keep going. The grass which usually faded to a warm brown, was a dull green, with a pleasantly warm breeze, and the occasional cloud floating on by above.

The clan had made sure he would be able to get back on his own hind paws without too much trouble, as they had given him a well made travois, that was piled high with rugs, beads, and carvings which would fetch a fine price at any general store. Fine enough to buy himself a rifle and a pistol, with ammunition belts to go with, and cloths should want some. He didn't. The Moccasins he had been given where a hybrid of clothing. Made of Coyote Cotton like all the clans clothes his was a bit different. The weaver had taken his clothes and taken inspiration from them, making full shirts with pockets, a sash that was essentially a utility belt, and a pack that was similar to every other pack in existence. There had been a surprise however with the pants, the weaver had seen the extra pockets on Nick's old shirt, and had the idea to put some on his pants. Nick accepted them, they looked odd, but it was extra space for food, which was never a bad thing. And if he was honest, the Moccasins were the most comfortable clothes he had ever worn.

Nick arrived in the closest town to where he had been, Respite, early morning the next day. He didn't care if the mammals there recognized him. He hated the town, now, it had nothing but bad memories for him. But he was essentially naked out on the plains without any firearms. And he could always replenish his supplies. He got more than a couple stares walking through town, it wasn't surprising, but no one recognized like he thought. He did however recognize several others however, namely the 'posse' that had originally tried to kill him, as it seemed they had decided to stick around. Nick snorted, in his opinion it was nothing less than these mammals deserved, they were all cowards in his eyes after all. They could have helped him, but apparently they all kept the guns on their hips there for show only.

Nick walked into the General store run by a hog named Clancy, and tooke his travois too, it fit through the door, no sense leaving it all for the towns-mammals to steal. Clancy looked up from whatever he had been doing.

"A trader, huh?" Nick simply nodded and headed up to the counter.

"How much?" Nick nodded towards the travois. Which Clancy looked at and considered for a moment.

"20 dollars." Nick had to struggle to keep from laughing and just snorted.

"Most mammals try to commit robbery at gunpoint." Nick turned to walk out, knowing Clancy would buy, Tribes Mammal goods sold well back east.

"All right, you got me, 1,200 dollars." Nick paused, he knew all he had was valuable but didn't think it was _that_ valuable. Oh well, more money to work with.

"1,300 will get you the travois as well." Clancy nodded and opened up the register and laid the money on the counter. Something was wrong, something was _very_ wrong, not only should Clancy _not_ have that much money, Clancy _always_ bartered, he was the literal definition of a greedy pig after all. Nick went up to the counter, grabbed the money, and undid the harness. And then made swift time out of the store. Nick then went to the gun store, and decided to splurge, the rifle he bought was essentially the same thing as what Jerome had except it only had four shots, and then two .38 special revolvers, as well as the needed holsters and ammunition belts, and an extra ammo bag, for the back of his sash.

After all this Nick felt he was being watched, and he knew exactly who it was, and so decided to leave town, there was going to be nothing but trouble if he stayed. And as much as he hated this town, he had no intention of dying in it.

After he left he began to head northeast, towards where some of his family lived. He made some good progress too, and expected to arrive early in two days. Only problem was his shadow. Being a Law Mammal since he was fifteen had given Nick something of a sixth sense, and it was tingling like crazy. So he made camp he couldn't see anyone, nor hear, nor smell, so he decided to wait for his shadow to its move.

It was several hours after sundown when he heard it, a slight scuffling noise, though he made no reaction. The scuffle became near silent pawsteps, that sounded familiar, _'another fox'_ , the pawsteps continued to near as Nick wanted, yet he still didn't move. He didn't move when the other fox stopped right next to him, he _did_ move when the other fox decided to try and remove one of Nick's revolvers from it holsters. Nick's eyes shot open, and his paw darted forward to grab the first thing he saw, which happened to be a set of rather large tan ears, and rolled up to stand.

" _ **PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN 'FORE I BITE YOUR FACE OFF!"**_ Nick instinctively turned the mammal he was holding away from him, to try and reduce the amount of sound coming from the small mammal who was struggly pretty hard to escape Nicks grasp, who, Nick could see was a fennec Fox. It didn't help. What did help was when Nick sighed and pulled one of his revolvers.

"Whoa, I'm sure we could work something out here mammal, no need to…."

"No need to what? Resort to violence? I seem to remember a certain mammal here say something about biting my face off, and it wasn't me as I'm rather fond of my face. You also went to pull my gun, meaning you were about to likely kill me and then loot my corpse. So tell me what is there no need to resort to? Hmmm?" Nick was livid, he had figured something was wrong with Clancy and now he had figured out what it was. The fennec didn't say anything, merely hung by his ears. Nick sighed, he had just thought of something, and cursed his bleeding heart.

"Let me guess you were going to do this for Clancy?" The fennec looked up now, somewhat alarmed. Nick shook his head.

"Look I know that town hates foxes, I got the scars to prove it, so how about I make you an offer?"

"What's this offer?" Nick refrained from chuckling, and put his revolver back in its holster, he'd always been amazed at how deep the voices of fennec's were.

"I'm on my way to a poultry for work, its owned by family, pretty sure I can get you a job there and if I can't the towns a hell of a lot more friendly to foxes, sound good?"

"If you put me down." Nick did so and was rewarded by a swift kick to the shins, causing him to drop to all fours.

"Why you little…" Nick growled, and was about to get even when the fennec put his voice to use again.

" _ **HEY YOU OWE FOR PICKING ME UP LIKE THAT!**_ " Nick still made his way over and pinned the smaller fox, and growled in his face.

" _Fine, don't do it again_." Nick released the smaller fox, who instantly put distance between the two.

"Whas yor name?"

"Whats yours?"

"Finnick Chivay."

"Nick, Nick Wilde." Finnick shook his head at new counterpart, he didn't trust the red fox, and he suspected the red fox didn't trust him, not that it mattered. Finnick could fight, he knew this, he had fought off Buffalo before, Nick however was something else he could tell, the way he walked and growled on all fours like it was an everyday thing to do, and then pinned Finnick without even trying was scary. Finnick was pretty sure trying something on the red fox would be a fatal mistake for just about anyone, and considered himself lucky. _'Wilde, huh? Damned appropriate, askin' me.'_


	2. Prologue II

_Disclaimer:Zootopia and its characters are owned by their wonderful creators at Disney, this a fanfiction meant to be entirely nonprofit_

 _Disclaimer II: There will be violence and blood in this story._

Prologue II

October 17, 1873

If you wanted a lesson of silent rage to study, Judith Laverne Hopps was the rabbit to study. Yes, rabbit to study. The household staff were worried, not for themselves, as Judy was a rather mature rabbit for her seventeen years and was highly unlikely to direct her rage towards them. No they were concerned for her mother and father when she managed to get them in private. She was seventeen. _Seventeen!_ But apparently she was to become a married doe, and be mated and bred by age eighteen. Not on her watch.

She had asked around the gossip circles, before tonight, about her arranged suitor. Jack Savage, age forty-two, yes, forty-two, was a hare senator who was known to be suave and a lady's man. Judy snorted, he already had four wives, and _gods_ know how many mistresses, he did not _need_ another wife. And despite what her parents said she did not _need_ a husband, much less a husband she did not, and likely never would, love; who would likely only see her as a kit factory for warren upon warren upon warren.

Judy had a plan, two actually, but one relied on Jack being sympathetic to her cause, and while Hares, Jack in particular, were known to be more…. _liberal_ , she doubted he would, as more wives meant more prestige. The 'sympathetic Jack' plan essentially had her explaining her situation, and trying to get him to back her as she explained…. _this_ , to her parents. The second and more likely, in her eyes, Jack was intent on marrying her, and she would have to explain _this_ alone. This being her desire to become a Marshall, she didn't want to sit in the same house, see the same part of the world, with the same mammals for the rest of her life. She wanted adventure, to be more than _just another bunny_ , _To Be More Than a Trophy Wife_.

Either way she was leaving tonight, her parents, gods she tried to love them, had become more and more oppressive she had turned seventeen three months ago. Restricting where she could and could not go, who she could and could not see, what she could and could not do, and this was foot of tunnel that caused the cave-in, what she could and could not _think._ Judy was a strong believer in not being restricted by your species or who your parents were, etc. Judy's parents however….The apple fell rather far from the tree in this case. Judy's thoughts were interrupted by one of the servants coming in. The servant in question, a tasmanian devil, stopped in her tracks. The rage exuding off of Judy was akin to physical force, like an explosion from a mining charge had been frozen in time.

"Ahh, Tracy, come in, please, those are the clothes for today's meeting I assume." Tracy was amazed, Judy could emulate a volcano about to erupt, yet by the nicest mammal on the planet in her rage was not directed to you, though she noticeably struggled not to sneer at the clothes.

"Yes, Miss Judy, these are your clothes for the night." Tracy sat the bundle down, to which Judy sighed, and began the long process of changing clothes. The process was done in silence, until the bodice.

"Permission for candor, Miss?" Judy chuckled.

"Of course, Tracy."

"I don't envy you Miss, these 'ere clothes look _mighty_ uncomfortable." Judy laughed again.

"You've said that every time my parents have had me dress up, Tracy."

"Yes'um," Tracy turned judy to face her. "This is a bit, of a uh, tradition between us Miss." Judy then noticed the tears in Tracy's eyes. "And I hope this is the last time for this as well."

Judy brought Tracy in for a hug, which her 'servant' returned. Tracy had been more of a mother, than her _actual_ mother had, with Tracy being Judy's wet nurse and then personal servant. The dressing resumed, the occasional sniffle being heard from the two. It was a good thing Tracy had arrived to dress Judy an hour before she needed to, otherwise Judy would have been arriving to the meeting with Senator Savage with red eyes.

=8=

The manor itself was an extravagant affair, even by the wealthiest Mammal's standards. The hall had been recently built, and as such flaunted the Hopps' wealth. The walls were trimmed with gold and silver, exquisite paintings from around the world lined them. The table clothes were made from silk. The silver ware wasn't _actually_ silver though. It was platinum. The four chandeliers that lined the roof of the main hall, which had several sections, which was high enough for the tallest elephant to stand properly under, were solid diamond. The lighting was provided by kerosene lamps fed through a complex series of pipes inside the white marble walls. It was a hall fit for royalty. Which wasn't surprising as the Hopps Manor, like many other Manor's in the meadowlands, was designed to compete with Old Country palaces; the Hopps Manor's inspiration and rival being Versailles. Judy hated every square inch of it.

The Hopp's wealth had come from the spice and medicinal trade. With Tribesmammal spices considered as fine as those from the Far East, and the medicine being incredibly reliable.

Judy wondered about the Tribesmammals, were they the barbarians everyone said were, or just misunderstood. Judy took all she heard about them with a grain of salt, as all the 'information' she had ever heard about them came from the same talking heads who said predators in general entirely untrustworthy. Then again she would likely be able to judge for herself, or at least hear from those who _actually_ had experience with the tribes.

Judy looked down at herself, and squirmed mentally. The bodice wasn't too tight as she and Tracy had once spent an entire day figuring out how to make Judy's bodices look proper without being suffocating. The result was a proper looking bodice that only _restricted_ Judy's breathing, instead of making her feel crushed.

The dress was rather simple for this affair, though simple for this affair was everyday wear for Royalty. It was strapless, showing off Judy's shoulders and a smidge of bosom; no doubt her father's doing, making sure his _gift_ to Senator Savage, pleased the eye. Her bodice was, like all, form fitting, essentially gracing and showing off her lines. The bottom of Judy's dress started _below_ her waistline, fitting her hips and then sloping off to the sides of her legs. The primary colour of the dress was amythest, to match her eyes, with the trim being golden silk. In short she looked and felt like an upper class prostitute. Judy knew exactly what it was. An attempt to shame her into accepting Savage as her husband. Judy had picked her dresses for meeting such as this before as well as events prior to the meeting; why would this be no different? It was diffenently going to have the tongues that saw her wagging, that much was certain. " _One more day Judy_ , _one more day in stuffy dresses dealing with insufferable mammals and parents who view you more as property than as a daughter, just one more day."_

=8=

Judy was waiting along the driveway with Tracy when Senator Savage arrived, and she had to admit he was a handsome hare. Broad shouldered, with a spring in his step that belied his age of forty-two years, and well groomed fur, with rather noticeable stripes along his tall ears and face. He was dressed in a rather standard black suit that was obviously tailored, as it fit him well, with a cane that more for show than actual walking assistance. Judy's impression of him was that of a smug ass, especially as he noticeably raised an eyebrow at her attire, _Great._ Jack walked over in front of Judy and gave a small bow which was answered by a small courtsy.

"Senator Jack Savage?"

"Yes, Miss Judith Hopps?"

"Yes, pleased to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine."

Jack then took Judy's paw and kissed the air above her knuckles, which was less than proper. The proper form would have been to actually kiss her knuckles, as air indicated the gentlemale in question thought less of the lady's character or looks. Judy didn't care, it was another point in a rulebook that was created to artificially elevate the wealthy over those who were not.

"So are your parents not going to be joining us?" Jack asked, his impression of Judy being rather mixed so far, though he had a feeling she had something up her metaphorical sleeve.

"No, they thought it would be best that we acquaint ourselves privately." Jack raised an eyebrow at the candor. As the real meaning behind the words were akin to _my parents want you to mate me and breed before we're even married_.

"However I was hoping we could walk in the gardens, it's too nice of a day to be locked inside."

Jack's eyebrow was now attempting to enter orbit, but he followed Judy nonetheless. Judy was right it was to pleasant a day to be inside, and they discussed as such, and other things, art, music, and the small gossip one would share between acquaintances. Jack however was still waiting for Judy to show her true colors as what she currently showed to him is what most ladies showed to him. He didn't his mistresses ladies, for that matter he didn't consider them mistresses, and smiled when Judy when finally broached the subject.

"May I be frank with you, Senator Savage?"

"Only if I may call you Judy and you call me Jack."

"I will not marry you." ' _That was unexpectedly blunt',_ Jack thought, considering himself lucky that they were not indoors where he likely would have been nursing a drink, that would have been spewed.

"And may I ask why not?"

"I do not intend to be rude, as far as I can tell, and having hundreds of siblings helps in this learning to read mammals, you are a gentlemale. So much so i doubt you have the rumoured mistresses that are…. Accredited to your name. However, I will not be married of as a gift from my father to any male, I am not property I am a mammal."

Judy looked to Jack expecting to see rage or at least indignation, what she found was understanding. Jack eventually started to chuckle lightly and shook his head.

"I am not surprised, your father is rather notorious for not respecting his own daughters unless they comply with exactly what he wishes them to do. Let me guess this is a final effort on his part to get you married off?"

"Yes."

"And how old are you?

"Seventeen." Jack stopped at this answer, and trained a horrified look upon Judy that asked for confirmation, which came in the form of a head nod. Jack simply shook his head.

"Your father is…. _something else_."

"You don't need to tell me. However, since you, at the least, appear sympathetic to me can you help me?"

"Help you how?"

"I am leaving the manor, today, while my parents still believe me to be with you, and hope for me to be…. _entangled_ with you. I already have my things packed, my way of exit found, and have accepted that my leaving will result in my being disowned in all likelihood. However my parents never let me leave, I do not know my way in the real world…." Judy trailed off.

"And you want me to teach you, how real life works?" Jack finished.

"Or have a mammal you trust do the same." Jack nodded, it made sense what she was saying, and if he were honest with himself he would want to leave if he were in Judy's position as well.

"What do you want to do in the real world?" Jack turned to look at Judy, and felt he was seeing who she truly was, very few mammals had the same fire Judy had in their eyes.

"I want to be a Marshall."

"And you understand what that means?" Jack nodded.

"No," Jack turned but Judy held up her paw. "Because i've been forced to live the life of a hermit, there is a very big difference in the understanding that comes from reading about something and the understanding that comes from doing something." Jack nodded again, and almost felt sorry for Judy, but she was literally asking for this.

"I know a mammal, a Cape Buffalo, by the name of Adonis Bogo, he's a Marshall and trains other mammals to be Marshalls. However he's likely to dismiss you, not because you're female, not because you're a rabbit, not because you're rich but because you're a combination of all three of those. You'll have to prove you mean to be more than the stereotypical airheaded prostitute that most mammals think upperclass female Bunny's are." Jack turned again. "Do my words offend you."

Judy simply giggled. "No, it's a rather apt description of my born caste, and half my sisters."

"Very well, I suppose now would be a good time for you to put your plan into action."

"Yes, it would."

=8=

It had been a three days since Judy had left her family manor in the Meadowlands, and she hadn't regretted it at all. Jack had sent word to her that Marshall Bogo was willing to at least see her. She was actually headed there now, and after some reading in the library she realised that a Marshall in the city proper was actually quite the oddity, there simply wasn't much work for them in the area, the ZPD handling the local stuff, with efficiency.

It had been an eventful three days. The first was spent getting a room in a decent inn, and then moved on to clothes shopping. Seventeen years spent in dresses was enough for Judy, and there was only one occasion in her life that possibly remained where she'd willing wear a dress and it was quite likely not going to happen. The second was spent simply wandering the streets around her temporary residence, though she was careful to stay amongst the crowds and kept her paw on the small purse of coins she had at all times. The third was spent with half of it on the streets and then the other half in the library.

Now she was in the city outskirts on the doorstep of Adonis Bogo's house. ' _Now or never_ '.

Her knocking was answered swiftly and she could see the towering buffalo behind the smidge the door was cracked.

"I didn't think you'd show."

He closed the door unlatched the chain and reopened, stepping aside and ushering her in. The home was nice, rustic actually, most everything had a purpose, and the furniture, was simply polished cherry. Nice and functional without being garish like her old residence. She liked it.

Bogo took her into a small office, which had old wanted posters tacked to the walls, as well some other memorabilia. Bogo sat behind a large desk which centered the room and gestured for Judy to sit across from him. The chair was too large, comically so, as she had to hop to get into it. She was now grateful she had dressed like a male.

"Well, I told Jack I would take a look at you, see if you had what it takes to become a Marshall, and you showed up, in clothing fit for the job as well, surprisingly. So, impress me."

"I'm sorry?"

"Impress me."

"That's it….."

"Impress me." Judy sighed, it was clear that's all the Cape Buffalo was going to say until she answered him somehow. But impressing a Marshall wasn't an easy task, especially this one. She had spent half a day reading about Marshall's in general and Bogo briefly. Then it clicked, this was a test, just not the kind Bogo was saying it was.

"That's not going to happen," Bogo went to say something but was stopped by Judy's paw. "It's not going to happen because your a Marshall of…. How many years?"

"Seventeen."

"Exactly you've been a Marshall for as long as I've been alive, I was essentially a hermit, not through my own choice, but I doubt you care about that. So I'll guarantee that you're more worldly than I am, not to mention you have a Marshall's training. I have no worldly experience or any training of any kind outside of piano and sewing though I doubt that's what you meant by 'impress me' so the only thing I have is the fact that I can jump really high, which I'm sure you've seen before. That said or you going to simply say 'impress me' again and waste _our_ time, or our you going to train me?" Judy fired this off rapidly so as not to be interrupted and made an impression of Bogo's voice every time she repeated her words. She looked up at him, specifically not having looked at him during her tirade. Bogo's face remained the same, however when he spoke the was a bit of warmth to his tone.

"That's exactly what I meant by 'impress me', would you figure out that I'd seen anything you could think of that would be even remotely come close to being useful to a Marshall, that seeing you do it would be nothing special, well done." Bogo reply came through rather even, though he mimicked Judy's imitation of his words 'impress me', with a falsetto she wasn't aware a mammal with such a large body and deep voice could posses.

"So you'll train me?" Judy felt her hopes beginning to rise….

"Ah, there are rules that you _will_ follow if I am to train you. First you will stay here with me, it simply makes sense as you have no permanent residence which means curfew is ten p.m. Second you do what I say, when I say it, and follow it as closely as you physically can. Third keep the complaining to yourself or, at the most a minimum, because you chose this, therefore if you are not dying, I don't care about your woes. Agreed?"

Bogo offered her his hoof which she could have stood in if she wanted to do so, but she reached her paw up to him and grasped as firmly as she could considering their respective sizes.

"Deal."

=8=

Judy was given a small room that was simply furnished, with a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe. The furniture like every other piece in the house was sized for large guests, Judy didn't care, it meant that she was going to be trained as a Marshall, once the paperwork was filed with the regional office. However Bogo had told her that even should the office deny her training he was going to train her anyways, she'd just have to work, to pay for her own things, which she found reasonable.

It had taken a week to get said paperwork completed and filed, with Bogo swearing like a seasoned sailor everytime the subject came up ( "of course we can't just notify the office and be done with it, that would be too _easy_. No we must file a piece of paperwork for every individual fur on a mammal's body if we want to train them" ), which Judy found funny simply because Bogo was right, and it wasn't Judy who was doing it. The standard wakeup time it appeared was seven A.M. for Bogo and other Marshalls who were permanently based out of town of city, Judy woke up at six, she didn't believe Bogo when he said that would be the wakeup time for her training as well. She was right to do so.

Sure enough the day she was to officially start training Bogo attempted to surprise her by _attempting_ to wake her up at six thirty. To Bogos credit, he did manage to maintain a rather impassive poker face when Judy opened the door to her room right before he knocked on the door.

"Ah, you're awake already, excellent."

=8=

Over the months Judy and Bogo essentially father and daughter, as Judy's birth father had only ever had time to make sure his daughter was in fact still alive, and that was a rare occasion in and of itself. Jack had told Bogo as such and so Bogo took it upon it himself to essentially be a father to her. He had never married, however he was the one who was considered best when training new members of the Marshalls service that were young. Proven by the portraits that Bogo had in his office, which Judy had originally thought were captured criminals.

Judy particularly remembered her first shooting lesson. The first shot she fired she had dropped the gun, surprised by the recoil. She managed to hang on to the gun for her second shot, but a bit too firmly, the resulting bloody nose had taken half an hour to stop. It mostly proved to be smooth sailing after that.

The entire training time had proved grueling as the physical requirements were harsh and practically impossible when she first started. Be able to maintain what was called 'double time' for 5 hours, 150 pushups, 150 situps, and be able to do it all in full kit (Ammunition, food, water, medical supplies, clothing, and most important, paw care supplies). It took her 8 months to be able to do it all. All while learning the laws and jurisdiction codes of not only Zootopia but also of the various frontier counties.

The 'Final test' was her and Bogo tracking down a murderer who left city limits but was still in Zootopia County, Judy wasn't surprised when she found out who it was. It was her sister, Ellen. Ellen was one of her older sisters and was the living example of ' _promiscuous bunny'_ , her husband had found out the hard way apparently walking in on Ellen while she was with another buck. Her husband had been rightfully upset, and decided to get an annulment, said annulment would have meant no more pocket book so Ellen shot him. This upset the lover she had been with when her husband found her, as he would have given her access to _his_ wallet, and so he reported Ellen to the police. The next day Ellen visited him, and the maid rushed after hearing two small pops and found Ellen standing over her lover's body, Derringer in paw. Ellen didn't even recognize Judy even after she saw the name on the badge, 'Marshall Hopps'.

They had returned to the town house, and Bogo had broken out the whiskey, eight months living with a Marshall, had lead to Judy being able to handle her alcohol. They were in Bogo's office, Judy asking questions, Bogo replying with stories, it was the happiest Judy had ever seen him. There were plenty of stories to tell after all, usually having to do with wake up times or first gun lessons. One apprentice, had gotten wasted the night before, so much so Bogo's loudest yelling hadn't woken him up, it took the wolf two days to sleep it off. Judy had winced at that, almost getting a sympathy headache from the imagined hangover. Another wolf didn't have a holster and so decided to keep the gun in the waistband of his pants, the wolf had also decided to load six shots into the revolver, the resulting howl had been returned from what seemed like every wolf in Zootopia. All was well. Until Judy pointed at one picture.

"Who's that?" she asked tilting her head at the portrait quite sure this one _was_ a criminal.

"Who's who?"

"The Fox you caught." Bogo frowned deeply at that. He knew who she was talking about.

"Don't assume such things Judy, he was an apprentice like you were, once." Judy had the tact to appear flustered.

"I-I-I'm sorry I didn't know. But you didn't answer my question." Bogo became noticeably saddened.

"That, is Nicholas Wilde."

Bogo had that portrait framed, and handed it to her. The fox, 'Nicholas', was standing next to Bogo, who appeared as stoic as usual, when around those he didn't know. 'Nicholas', however was a different story. He was the physical embodiment of bright eyed and bushy tailed, and she could sense that the portrait didn't do his eyes justice, they almost had a twinkle in them even on the paper. And he had a playful grin that could only be described as shit-eating, which somehow also managed to be endearing…. Almost.

"So who is Nicholas Wilde?"

Bogo smirked and snorted. "The most infuriating Fox on the whole damn planet. You think the headache you get from a hangover is bad? Try spending an hour in a room with that fox, while he tries to come up with nicknames for you."

Bogo shook his head.

"He's also the only mammal I've ever met that _could_ compete with you for 'Biggest heart', despite what happened to him. He was a damn good Marshall too, practically made for the job. Despite how irritating he was, you couldn't ask for a better mammal to have your back."

Bogo looked up to see Judy's implied question.

"His parents were shot, gunned down actually, right in front of him, when he was fifteen,

for no other than they were foxes. I got assigned the case, I found the murderer, and Nicholas Wilde too. Same cave actually, except Nick was alive, he was terrifying to see. Dried blood on his claws and muzzle, and I could see the bastard who had killed Nick's parents was all kinds of torn up, yet there wasn't a scratch on Nick. Wouldn't talk to me, except to say his name. It took two weeks to get him to talk, tell his side of the story, he went after his parents murderer because he believed no one else would after all the townsfolk had hardly spared a glance when his parents had been gunned down."

Bogo seemed down right depressed saying this, but then seemed to liven up a bit.

"I couldn't blame the kid, after hearing that, it was too raw to be a lie, and he looked a kit who just began his journey to manhood, thin as a twig I tell you. I offered to train him make him a Marshall, told him he could prevent other kits from being forced to take justice into their own paws. He accepted."

Judy however, was horrified, there was justice and there was revenge, they were two very different things.

"Why didn't you arrest him?" Bogo looked at her in genuine shock, but recovered after a minute.

"Arrest him for killing a Wolverine who had robbed three banks, and killed twenty mammals? Nick killed that Wolverine his _paws and teeth_ Judy, I saw him angry one time, when an adult bull elephant insulted his parents. He made that elephant _cry and piss_ himself in fear, at age _sixteen_. And be honest you would have done the same thing he had, the only reason you think I should have arrested him is because he killed with his claws and teeth, it's not what he did, its how he did it that bothers you. Judy I love you like a daughter and that kind of thinking will get you killed on the Frontier. And I _do_ know you _will_ go to the Frontier. It's who you are. So open our eyes, ignore the stereotypes, or would you rather I treat like a frightened, loose bunny?"

Judy progressively shrank in her seat as Bogo went on. He was right after all.

"He's brought in over two-hundred criminals, _alive_ , over the past seven years. Quite a few more than you, I would like to remind you."

Bogo stopped, seeing his message had gotten through, and sighed.

"Good night, Judy."

"Good night."

=88=

 _Taken from the Zootopia Townsman_

June 27, 1874

 _ **"Two days ago Harold 'Red' Hopps, Rabbit, escaped with the help of the remnants of his gang. Maney had been serving a life sentence of hard labor, at Fort Carcel, for three murders and forty-seven bank and train robberies. Hopps gained renown for having convinced the horses in his gang to allow smaller mammals to ride on their backs, so the smaller mammals, Hopps included, could board the trains. Hopps was brought in and his gang scattered by a group of Marshalls led by one Nicholas Wilde, fox,..."**_

~=888=~

 _A/N: I have a request, that request is you, the reader, either review or PM me about the dialogue, I really question its clarity, as you're here to read a story, not a reading comprehension challenge. Also I hope you all don't mind a somewhat shorter word chapter this felt like the proper place to cut it, I'm going to write what feels natural to the story more than anything else._


	3. Prologue III

_Disclaimer: Zootopia and Its characters belong to their wonderful creators at Disney, this is a fanfiction meant to be entirely nonprofit_

 _Disclaimer II: There will be violence and blood in this story_

Prologue III

July 3 1874

The farewell was somewhat awkward for Judy and Bogo. The two had bonded over their several months together, especially once they figured out they weren't just a cute bunny and gruff old marshall respectively. So much so, their relationship was really more akin to 'father-daughter' than 'master-apprentice'. What made things awkward however was not their relationship but the relative size differences.

"You would think a hug would be simple matter for two marshalls." Judy chuckled.

"You would think."

They settled on Judy hopping onto Bogos shoulders and pseudo-hugging his face while he put giant hoof over her back. Judy was headed out west, to the Frontier, because that's what she wanted after all, was to see the world, or at least a good portion of the continent, and adventure. Judy did find the looks she was getting from her badge and attire rather funny, though she was wasn't surprised. All the gear she had, and was wearing _was_ rather form fitting, and though quite bulky it was quite easy to see she was of the feminine persuasion. Thus she also earned a few leers, which were quickly met by a smile that didn't reach her eyes and a show of pawing the handle of her weapon.

Judy hated the idea of lethal force, but a bunnies frame was simply too small to make armor effective, and still be light enough so she could bounce around and knock whoever she was fighting unconscious. So she carried a gun, a six shooter (She was _not_ going to carry a derringer) chambered in .32 Long.

The train finally arrived and Judy and Bogo said goodbye for the 'last time', which turned into three more hugs, and tears that may or may have threatened Bogo's dignity. Though to be fair, Bogos tears could be used as a testosterone enhancer in most other males.

When Judy finally _did_ board she found herself meeting another marshall, a tiger who looked her over, saw the badge and grinned, motioning for her to come over as she was on the other side of the car. The tiger, like all of his kind was rather large, and well-muscled, with the characteristic black stripes, unique, like other tigers in the world. His blue eyes were sparkling in a manner that matched his grin, both of which said 'I'm a child in an adult's body.' He spoke up as Judy stowed her gear under her portion of the seat.

"Heading for the frontier?"

"Yep," Judy bounced on her part of the seat excitedly. "I joined because, I wanted adventure and to see other places." This earned her a slight chuckle.

"The plains themselves aren't anything exciting, though the sunsets are to die for. First time, new recruit?"

"Yes on both accounts, why do you ask?" Judy's reply was a bit cautious at this, which again caused the tiger to chuckle.

"Relax, I saw you saying goodbye to Marshall Bogo, I thought he had retired but if he trained you and put the star on your chest you clearly have what it takes. And if any other Marshalls say anything just mention Bogos name, he might be getting old but the only other mammal I'm more afraid of is Nick Wilde. Oh, and pardon my bad manners, Joseph Fangmeyer." Judy took his paw, or more accurately his finger and shook, she didn't however notice Joe's eyes go slightly glazed as he felt his finger being crushed, as he found himself thankful she wasn't a somewhat larger mammal like wolf.

"Judy Hopps. And it sounds like I really need to meet this Nick Wilde, every Marshall I've met has done nothing but sing his praises." Joe nodded sagely, and Judy could feel the sarcasm oozing off of him.

"Oh yes, amongst Marshalls, he is our red furred, diminutive, completely infuriating god; whose only weakness is blueberries and coffee. You could set up the most obvious trap in the world, but if you used coffee and blueberries as the bait, he'd go gladly."

"He sounds like quite the character." Judy chuckled.

"Oh he is, yet, you'd be hard pressed to find a kinder mammal, well, last I saw of him anyways. He was headed down to Respite took a job and became the pseudo-marshall for the town, hope it's working well for him." Joe turned towards Judy again. "So where are you from? I'm from New Yak, I actually just got done visiting family."

The train lurched forward and blew its whistle signalling they were finally moving.

"Outskirts of Zootopia, My, uh, home life…. It wasn't the best, ran away with some rather powerful help, joined up with the Marshalls."

Fangmeyer frowned at that slightly.

"You're a Zootopia Hopps? I take you didn't know your family's reputation?"

Judy shook her head slightly, it had never come up with Bogo, though Senator Savage had said her father was something else in a way that implied there was more going on.

"Nope, being female in that family is equivalent to being property to be sold or traded to the highest bidder, or whoever father wants to cuddle up to."

"That fits everything else I've heard," Fangmeyer wasn't surprised, most bunny families weren't as crooked as the Hopps, but definitely just as conservative, "Rumor has it your father is to the top of his in crime; blackmail, extortion, bribery, murder, smuggling; If you can think of it he has his paw in it. And then there's his brother, your uncle, Harold 'Red' Hopps, who robbed several banks and trains on the frontier. That's when I met Bogo and Wilde, there were twenty three of us, when we started tracking him, there were 6 of us when we brought him in finally, though last news was he had escaped the hell-hole we put him. Your family's pretty messed up Judy."

Judy, to her credit, took it all well. She wasn't surprised after all, though it did make her wonder what her father's and Senator Savages relationship was.

"I'm not surprised, first criminal I brought in, with Bogo, was one of my older sisters, she was the live example of 'Horny Bunny', killed one of her lovers and her husband." Fangmeyer let out a whistle at that.

"Well, at least you turned out alright."

"Thanks….what do you want me to call you, there is a difference between name and preference?"

"I don't care, most call me Fangs or Fangmeyer, thats most Marshalls actually, prefer to be called by their last names, I imagine Bogo mostly had you call him that. What about you?"

"Actually I called him Adonis, since he was more of a father to me than anyone else has ever been. And Call me anything you like except 'cute'."

"May I ask why?"

"Most use it as a slur against rabbits, kinda like 'pelt' for foxes, or 'pussy' for cats."

"Alright Cutey."

"You want to die, Pussy?" Fangmeyer laughed.

=8=

They spent most of the ride that day talking about the frontier, well Fangmeyer did most of the talking, with Judy doing most of the listening, a lot of it was familiar from her lessons with Bogo, but there was a lot Fangmeyer admitted he'd just have to show her. If there was one thing Marshall training showed a mammal it's that there's a big difference between saying something and actually seeing it and doing it. Eventually, after several hours of talking, mini-lessons, card games, in which Fangmeyer taught Judy poker, and general lolling around, they fell asleep.

It was this that led to Fangmeyer waking Judy up somewhere around dawn.

"Wake up sleepy rabbit, time to get a move on." Judy yawned and stretched, shaking her head in an attempt to clear the cobwebs.

"Where are we?"

"Hoosiertown, there aren't any bridges across the Mizzo, so we have to take a ferry to get across the river." Judy nodded and grabbed her kit.

Hoosiertown was relatively large compared to other towns in the region, with a population of roughly two hundred fifty thousand mammals. And if you wanted too you could find every profession in the world here, as the town was a melting pot on par with New Yak. It was here that Fangmeyer and Judy purchased most of their food and medical supplies, or makings for their medical supplies. Any profession could found here, including charlatans and snake oil sales mammals.

The ferry ride was a novelty for Judy, she had never been this far west before, and despite being early July the river was so wide, that it stretched to the horizon. It was deep too, according to the ferry captain, nearly three hundred paces deep, with the shallows being 25 paces deep.

That said it was a fairly boring experience. It was on the west bank that Judy thought of something, practically every Marshall had a partner, except, to her knowledge, Nick Wilde, whom she hadn't met, Fangmeyer and herself.

"Hey Fangs?"

"Yeah?"

"You mind me sticking around with you? I don't know the frontier, and don't have a map but…."

"Yeah sure thing, I was hoping you'd ask actually, then I'd have someone to call nicknames and tell bad jokes too." Judy shook her head, Fangmeyer was a child. Fangmeyer paid their fare and turned back to Judy.

"Seriously though, It's nice to have someone watching your back, even if they are a cute little rabbit." The last bit was said with a shit-eating grin, which prompted a punch to inside of Fangmeyers knee, causing the tiger to almost fall.

"Ahhh, anyone who thinks Bunny's can't be vicious has clearly never met you."

"Damn Straight."

=8=

Before Judy blinked several years had gone by, with her Fangmeyer working well together, bringing some rather distasteful characters to justice. They traveled slowly, allowing Judy to learn, recognize, and know many parts of the Frontier like the back of her paw. She had found her calling in life, though it certainly wasn't the easiest career choice, as there were several unwritten laws and rules on the Frontier, that were important not only for survival, but in dealing with the mammals of the frontier. " _Practice what you preach"_ being first and foremost among them, as many mammals liked to say they were brave, and a week later they would be brought in for shooting a mammal in the back. Throughout it all she met many mammals, who shared stories, many of which had a common topic. Nicholas Wilde. The fox was essentially a living legend among the Marshalls and mammals of the frontier, which made her wonder where he was now, as the last any mammal knew of him really was around October of 1873, with something happening to him, which made many think he was dead. Judy didn't think so. After all if Nicholas Wilde was half the mammal other mammals thought he was, it was doubtful he would just lie down and die.

=88=

October 23, 1880

The rain was abysmal. It came down in endless torrents so thick and heavy you could scarcely see, in fact the only reason the red-eyed fiend could see was the lantern he was hunched over, as he made his way up the path leading to the Hopps Family Manor. He made it to the door soaking wet, as his poncho was made to protect from dust instead of torrential downpours. The red-eyed fiend took the form of a rabbit, a rather interesting choice for a demon that took immense pleasure in skinning and eating mammals. The tan furred paw reached up to the knocker and used it several times. The door was shortly answered by the manors butler, a stout raccoon, who very few knew the true age of. The raccoon had been the butler since before Harold was born nearly fifty years ago.

"Ah, Master Harold. Come in." The raccoon stepped aside letting the red-eyed rabbit in. The rabbit then followed the raccoon, to a bedroom/parlor on the second floor of the manor, where two servants were just finishing lighting and feeding a fresh fire.

"Master Jonathan, you're nephew, will be here shortly." This surprised Harold a bit.

"What? Where's Stu? Why's he not the one meeting me." Harold's voice was low and raspy in a manner that was the result of a failed hanging attempt that permanently damaged his throat. The raccoon however didn't miss a beat.

"It is not my place to say, as your nephew is here."

Jonathan was a black rabbit with gloves and ear tips of creme and sky blue eyes that could only be described as frigid.

"Ah, Uncle Harold, a pleasure to meet you at last." The black rabbit strode forward and looked over his uncle, a tan rabbit whose coat was rather unusual, instead of being slightly glossy or reflective, Harold's coat looked as though it was attempting to snuff out all of the light in the room.

"You know of me?"

"Yes father described you to those of us who were willing to, ah….participate in the family business, upon your escape he suspected you might spend some years away, letting mammals forget about you, then come back."

"Ah, speaking of Stu, where is he?" Jonathan appeared genuinely sorry at that.

"He was getting old, senile, tried to run operations he himself had shut down or delegated to others as much as several year prior, he….He had to go." Harold simply nodded, it's what he would have done in the young buck's place.

"So you run it all now?"

"Somewhat, I oversee everything, but only handle the sensitive matters directly, the small stuff I leave to my brothers and two of my sisters." This caused harod to raise an eyebrow.

"Don't give me that look they're more competent than the two I had in their positions before. So what do you want?" Jonathan walked over to the bureau in the room and poured two drinks. Harold took his and downed it instantly, he'd been without liquor for far too long for his taste.

"I need a crew, there's a copper who's a fox, he's why i've lost twelve years of my life, I want to repay the favor."

"You're talking about Nicholas Wilde, aren't you?" Jonathan whistled at that, it was a ballsy move to say the least.

"I…. 'may or may not' be able to give you a crew, but you do _everything_ yourself."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Harold made to leave but was stopped by a surprisingly firm grasp.

"If you let that pelt or anyone else trace this back to me you better be dead, or I'll make your treatment of your prisoners look merciful compared to what I'll do to you, clear?"

"Crystal."

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 _A/N: Alright, there's a couple of things to be announced. One I'm scrapping my upload schedule, I'll write at my pace and write what feels natural. If this chapter feels kinda bare-bones thats because it is, theres not much to do here, but I needed to do something with the time leap, and to finish up the prologue. Second I have no idea what my writing pace will be for the next couple days. I don't get my schedule until the first day of school aka tomorrow from when I'm posting this, which means i'm likely going to need to get it changed; So heres a chapter. I'll try to put some more meat in them from now on. Also I'm looking for an editer and a couple of Beta readers, Ill wait and see if anyone volunteers, If not dont be surprised if you get a PM from me If I see you've reviewed the Story. Speaking of, 600 views, 13 reviews and favorites and 24 follows, Thank you ALL of you, its awesome and so encouraging to see people taking an interest in this. Until next time folks, have a good one._


	4. Chapter I

_Disclaimer I: Zootopia and its characters are owned by their wonderful creators at Disney this a fanfiction meant to be entirely nonprofit_

 _Disclaimer II: There will be violence and blood in this story_

Chapter ?

November 7, 1880

The watery sunrise slowly brought light to the town, a town which, no matter where you looked, had no predators on the streets. It did however, have a militia that manned the stockade surrounding several of the stores and the mayor's house. Both were the result of two years of planning and five years of slow action, all orchestrated by single seemingly harmless ewe.

It was this ewe, named Dawn Bellwether, who had expelled most of the predators from the town of Respite. It was this ewe who made sure that only information she approved of left the town. She didn't need the military, specifically the Marshalls, coming and squashing her private little empire. She wasn't stupid. Crazy perhaps, but not stupid.

A smaller town would not have given the satisfaction that ruling over Respite did, but if she had tried her scheme in one of the larger cities she likely would have been killed. She giggled as she thought of how easy it was to manipulate those who came through town via her agents. Get any mammal drunk enough and they become surprisingly easy to manipulate. After all, waking up in a jail cell being told you had murdered a father was rather disconcerting to most. As far as word spreading about the suspicious lack of predators, that was even easier. Some light hypnosis, slight of hand, and saying particular things at particular times were enough to manipulate any mammal when done properly. And despite how easy one thing was, the combination of those things was _not_ so easy. But in Dawn's eyes it was worth it, a rare sanctuary for prey away from predators who merely _pretended_ to be civilized. It was quite exhausting.

This line of thinking led her to remember the fox Marshall who had served as a quasi-sheriff here seven years ago. He had taken the fifty lashes from the nine tails, which impressively still saw use. He hadn't screamed once, but instead simply glared at the townspeople and those who delivered the lashes. That had been the only part of her mini coup d'etat that had her concerned. The fox had apparently been a Marshall for seven years, and spent all seven years based here in Respite. But it had turned out to be relatively simple. Money in the right paws and muzzles over the right mouths worked wonders. Still the fox hadn't even died when she had her original group throw the fox in the river. He had showed up several months later looking like a Tribesmammal trader. He sold the goods he carried, bought some guns, and left. That had been the last time anyone in town had seen of the red fox.

A knock at the door to Dawn's parlour interrupted her thoughts and caused her to frown. Her lackies knew better than to bother her this early in the morning. Someone was getting a thrashing.

"What is it?!"

"There's a visitor here to see you Mayor Bellwether, he insists it's important, something about a particular fox you both know." The doormammal peeking his head into the room was nervous Bellwethers temper was well known throughout the town.

"Let him in." Dawn sighed, no self-ego-stroking today.

Harold walked in and it seemed as though the admittedly limited life in the room was drained. 'Room' being a parlour that was larger than any other house in town all by its lonesome. Harold tried not to gag at the display of 'power', something this sheep likely knew nothing of. True power was the ability to make an entire civilization fear your name, or much as Harold was loathe to admit it, the ability to become a walking, living legend and disappear like dust on the wind. Which was why Harold was here talking to this petty dictator. There was _no_ solid information on Nicholas Wilde, which infuriated Harold to no end. The _only_ existing information was that something had happened here in Respite, which resulted in Wilde making himself scarce. And it was quite obvious that the only way to get information regarding anything that had happened in the town over the past several years was to talk to the ' _Glorious Leader'_.

The display of 'power' in the room was wolf who was muzzled and chained to one of the two beds in the room. And judging from how the wolf was positioned and clothed the poor wretch was a slave of a more personal nature. Harold looked around some more and saw a fish skeleton on a platter that he doubted Dawn would let the wolf eat off of. Harold hated hypocrites. Oh, he wasn't above eating meat. Amusingly enough he didn't eat mammals for the meat but more to kill those he disliked in one of the most grotesque manners possible. That was the real difference between the rabbit and the sheep. Dawn was a petty dictator, Harold was just plain evil.

"Harold Hopps, a rabbit I'd never thought I'd meet in person. What brings you here?"

"Nicholas Wilde. Respite was the last place he was confirmed to be. Where is he?"

Dawn walked over to one of the seats and sat, gesturing for Harold to do the same. He remained standing.

"I don't know, he showed up six and a half years ago, after I _thought_ he was dead. Most mammals don't survive a whipping and being thrown in the Lost River."

Dawn pointed to the Cat-o-Nine-Tails hanging from the wall, that was conspicuously placed directly in front of the chained wolf.

"How many lashes?"

"Fifty and he didn't scream once, just glared at us." Dawn sounded so proud of herself Harold couldn't help but snort.

"Amateur, should've just put a bullet in his head. You're lucky he thinks the town betrayed him."

"I figured, he did bring you in. Is that why you're going after him? 'Twelve years of your life gone,' Good motivation to kill if I've ever heard any. And if you don't mind my asking, what do you intend to do?"

Dawn's little spiel was a mistake, Harold wasn't fond of mammals nosing into his business, yet saw no reason to not tell her. He had no intention of letting her live long after this.

"I'm going to take everything he has and make him watch."

=8=

Despite the fact that it was a deep night with no moon the horizon, the sky was alight with an angry red glow. A red-eyed rabbit simply watched as the inferno consumed the building that had been the Mayor's mansion of the town. While the rest of the town was trying to keep the wall of flame from spreading and eating the entire town. The rabbit nursed a bottle of whiskey, with a look a smug satisfaction on his face.

Come morning, the rabbit was nowhere to be found, which didn't matter as only three mammals knew he had been there, all three of whom were dead. The first was the mayor's doormammal, the second was the mayor's 'personal servant', and the third and perhaps most heartbreakingly for the town was the mayor herself.

The mammals who first heard the screams and saw the smoke described the account as though the _mammals_ had been set on fire, not the building itself.

=8=

November 11, 1880

Judy considered herself to be a generous mammal. Her reserves of patience were astonishingly large for a hyperactive rabbit. However she was not so generous when she had to carry her partner Fangmeyer up two sets of stairs because the dumbass had decided that he could outdrink the bartender. Who happened to be rhino. A rhino who currently held a record of twenty-two shots in a night. To Fangmeyer's credit he did manage to get up fourteen shots before he took a step to go relieve himself and instantly face-planted. He was out cold before he even hit the floor. He had also spent most of his money on liquor, meaning Judy now had to share a room with him. It wasn't awkward as the two had acknowledged they were essentially brother and sister but it was still damn annoying to Judy.

Judy had a plan for payback however. The big cat's ears were almost as sensitive as her own. Unlike the rest of the saloon and Judy he didn't have prior warning/cotton stuffed ears. Judy smiled not unlike a predator, as she twirled the beater for the saloons dinner bell.

To Fangmeyer the clanging was like having a pickaxe dipped in acid driven through his skull. The sound of the bell's deadly cry caused the big cat to jump so high he actually hit his head on the ceiling, even though the room was his size and not Judy's. He looked over and saw who his attacker was, and as he was about to go on a rant about he was hungover, he noticed that her eyes were anything but pleasant.

"Mind explaining why you decided to waste all of your money on liquor and a bet you _knew_ you couldn't win?"

Judy was standing on the edge of the bed Fangmeyer was in, and briefly considered just blowing her off. Then Judy started thumping her foot so fast it was almost a blur. To those who didn't know her, it was adorable. To those who _did_ know Judy, it was like looking at the reaper.

"Can you ask this question when I'm not hungover?"

"NO. I can handle paying for your room, but humiliating myself simply by associating with your dumbass is _NOT OKAY_."

The last two words were shouted at a volume that made Fangmeyer's vision spin. It would've made Bogo proud. He held up a paw to try and placate Judy.

" _OH I'M SORRY IS MY YELLING HURTING YOU?_ _ **GOOD!**_ _MAYBE YOU WON'T BE SO EAGER TO TRY AND OUT DRINK A RHINO NEXT TIME!"_

Judy knew how to muster up her voice when she wanted, and each subsequent word simply doubled in both volume and pain for Fangmeyer. Judy did, however, relent, mostly because the pain from her yelling caused Fangmeyer to pass out again.

=8=

It took another two hours of coffee, water, aspirin, and three omelettes to clear Fangmeyers hangover, much to Judy's dismay. The two weren't tracking a criminal at the moment as the Frontier was experiencing a period of relative peace, and so they were working on what was considered a personal project, even though every Marshall on the Frontier knew of and contributed to it. The not-official project's goal was simple; find Nicholas Wilde... or at least figure out what happened to him. It had started up around four years ago, after he had simply dropped off the face of the earth. And while it sounded simple in theory, searching an area that was estimated to around one point three million square miles with fifty-seven mammals, all of whom were traveling on foot, it was a task that wasn't expected to be done for at least a decade.

Wilde was presumed dead at this point. No one thought he would simply leave the Marshalls. If he did, they all thought he would have done so officially. The only information that had been found until recently was that _'something'_ had happened to him, and no one knew what. Every Marshall who went to Respite found nothing what so ever, which was rather suspicious as it seemed the whole town was in on whatever had happened to Wilde. Even false sightings, something Marshalls commonly had to deal with when tracking the wanted, were non-existent.

But recently someone had found an old badger named Honey, who had remembered the Wildes. It wasn't Nick himself but it was at least something, a direction to go in. Fangmeyer and Judy were currently headed south to the town of Alparaso. It was Nick's aunt and uncle who lived there, and they hoped to get some answers, provided Nick is or was there. And if not, inform them that their nephew was likely dead. Judy preferred not to think about the second scenario.

She had caused and seen far too much death over the past seven years. She preferred not to kill but it was very rare that mammals actually listened to Judy and came quietly. Unbeknownst to Judy, she herself had become a walking legend on par with Wilde. Within the Marshals service. It was a silent consensus to protect the other Marshalls, especially ones of Judy's caliber, from the dangers of public reputations. No one wanted another Marshall disappearing.

Fangmeyer glanced over at the rabbit he considered his partner and sister. Thinking of how they considered each other led Fangmeyer to chuckle lightly as thoughts of mammals reactions to the two saying they were brother and sister appeared in his mind. He kept those thoughts in mind as long as he could as a distraction. He was worried about what they find at the Wilde Ranch. Would they find nothing, and have to break the news to Nick's aunt and uncle? Or would there be a thread of information that would leave them to Nick? Or would the most unlikely scenario of actually _finding_ Nick come to fruition?

=8=

The actual answer was that Fangmeyer and Judy _would_ find Nick, just not where they expected to find him. Nick and Finnick both had arrived in Alparaso around six and a half years ago. Finnick had in fact gotten the job at the ranch with Nick's aunt and uncle, Josephine and George, and was rather happy with it. Nick himself had worked the ranch for three years before he semi-stopped. He had been struck with wanderlust at that time and became a bit of a rogue. Bartering here and gambling there. Though he wasn't currently at a table.

No, he was currently at a bar where he was doing his best to ignore the speciest ass who didn't see to understand the concept of 'a peaceful drink'. Nick was on his third shot now and couldn't decide whether the whiskey was helping or hindering his efforts to stay calm. Things came to a head when the donkey, in the infinite wisdom of his kind, decided to call Nick a pelt and spit in Nick's fourth shot. An impressive feat for the drunken ass who had to lean on the counter and was several paces away . Nick simply turned to the donkey with a raised eyebrow.

"Wellls? Wha are yous gon do? - _hic_ \- shot me?"

Those competing to make the understatement of the year would say the donkey was sloshed.

Nick decided measured to his response. Enough was enough, but the donkey was leaning so heavily on the bar it was a wonder it didn't collapse. The fox sighed, and the sense that Death was now watching with what felt like mild bemusement struck every mammal in the room.

=8=

As Judy and Fangmeyer approached they could hear the rinky-tink piano that every saloon on the Frontier had. They walked up to the saloon and looked around. It was rather typical, with a downstairs bar area consisting of card and food tables, piano, and of course the actual bar. The stairs just past the bar had a keeper at their base taking payment for rooms. What struck the two Marshals was the trouble along the middle of the bar, where a donkey was harassing a fox. Judy's first reaction was to go intervene, until Fangmeyer stopped her with the barest of nods. Anything short of murder was probably well deserved on the donkeys part, he figured, so the two took a seat. It was about five minutes after they had ordered and received their drinks that the piano stopped, causing both Marshals to look around for whatever shit was about to go down.

It didn't take long for them to recognize the fox and donkey they had spied earlier, however this time Fangmeyer had a clear view of the fox.

"Oh my god, he's still alive."

Judy turned her head at His statement. "Who?" His implied message flying over her head.

Fangmeyer's paw was shaking as he pointed his finger at the fox causing Judy to turn. Both felt as though there was something more going on here than what was to be seen.

"Nicholas Wilde."

=8=

Nick was seated on a stool that was actually as tall as him, it was the only way he could reach the bar after all. The donkey was actually seated several seats over, and those at the bar who were seated decided to move away from the fox. Most small mammals like foxes would cower at the type of hostile attention that Nick was receiving from the donkey. However, Nick wasn't concerned in the slightest. The raised eyebrow had morphed into half-lidded smirk that was the physical embodiment of bemusement. But because of the height of the stools Nick simply hopped from stool to stool until he stood, albeit with some artificial assistance, at the same height as the donkey who then miraculously sobered up in what must have been record time. This didn't escape Nick's notice, though he wasn't concerned, it didn't affect what he was planning. In fact what he was planning counted on the donkey sobering up, and everyone else in the saloon noticed that fact.

"What's your name?"

"Wild-card Hendricks."

The slap that landed on Hendricks' muzzle was so fast the other mammals in the room could barely see it. It caused Hendricks to start a bit but before he could act Nick was off to the races. The pattern was simple….in theory. Nick would slap Hendricks and before Hendricks could respond Nick would have already drawn his gun, and pointed it at Hendricks. This happened three times before Nick stopped his gun still drawn.

"Think you'd like to see it again? It's kinda tough to catch the first time round."

Nick spun his gun and returned it to his holster, and waited. The half-instant Hendricks moved the slap-draw routine resumed, with Nick faking Hendricks out on the third hit with his left paw, slapping Hendricks with his right before drawing with his right. After the fifth hit Nick returned his gun to his holster and as Hendricks went to move again Nick drew and held again. Hendricks spoke after a moment of being held at gunpoint, the rage at being humiliated by this _fox_ of all mammals clear to see.

"So you think this ends here?"

"Do I _know_ this ends here? Yes, yes I do."

Nick's response caused the donkey to begin to storm his rage building. It built so much so fast that he attempted to turn and draw at the door to saloon. Only to be stopped by a bullet in his hoof causing him to drop the gun he had drawn; Nick had drawn and fired accurately without even looking, while pouring himself a drink with the other paw. The donkey then ran off screaming obscenities into the deep night. At first no one reacted, until the sound of clapping reached Nick's ears, causing him to turn and see a rather familiar tiger with a badge, sitting with an unfamiliar rabbit with a badge.

It was a bit of a start to see Fangmeyer, one of his close friends from the Marshals. Thoughts of the Marshals led to memories. Memories which caused a slight shudder, that all except the rabbit and tiger failed to notice. Memories that flashed through Nick's mind causing him to feel the sting and pain of being flogged all over again. The phantom pain caused Nick's ear to flick, something that was again ignored by all except the two Marshalls. Nick ignored the pain and walked over to their table a slightly strained smile on his face.

"Hello Fangs, who's the carrot muncher?"

"Judy Hopps, Marshall."

"Really, you're a Marshall? Gee, It's almost like you have a bright shiny badge pinned to your chest that's going to get you killed someday."

Nick's reply to Judy didn't come as a surprise to the rabbit who heard practical legends about the foxes sarcasm. But Fangmeyer heard the tint of bitterness in Nick's tone, he noticed then Nick's badge, or lack thereof.

"Mind telling me why?"

Fangmeyer noticed Judy's rapidly tapping paw, and couldn't help but wonder how one would go about defusing timed dynamite. Fortunately Nick did it for him.,

"Don't thump your paw at me, I'm trying to help. A shiny badge reflects the sun, causing a nice bright light to come off your chest. That bright light happens to be a good point to aim at."

Nick raised his eyebrows at that last bit and Judy's anger deflated like a popped balloon.

"Speaking of badges where's yours Nick?"

Fangmeyer had thought that was an innocent question. Then he saw Nick's face. He had maintained the half-lidded smirk, but his eyes had changed. Instead of being warm and caring, they had turned as hard as the stones they shared their color with.

"Don't have one, haven't for seven years. Room thirteen's mine. You're welcome to join me if you don't want to pay."

Nick turned and was going in the rented room before Fangmeyer could process what Nick had said. The realisation that Nick had been broken and remained so struck Fangmeyer like a ton of bricks.

"He wasn't always like that, was he?"

"No, he wasn't."

~=888=~

 _A/N: Sorry its been two and half weeks since last upload, but I HAVE BETAS, sort of...It'll buff out. As far as excuses go:_ _I just didn't like what I kept coming up with(mainly due to a plot hole that Combat Engineer pointed out, hopefully this chapter at least addressed it somewhat). And_ _There's an idea rattling around in my head that I'm posting shortly after this. That said this( The Wilde West) will take precedent. This is my first story and I intend to finish it. Even though it will likely by somewhat short, because this really isn't something I can turn into a multi-book epic, it's taking inspiration from old spaghetti westerns after all. Speaking of, who caught the reference in this chapter? If you didnt catch it look up "Gun-Slap scene" on YouTube, third video down. That's all for now, have a good one folk_


	5. Chapter II

_Disclaimer I: Zootopia and its characters are owned by their wonderful creators at Disney, this is a fanfiction meant to be entirely non-profit_

 _Disclaimer II: There will be blood and violence in this story._

 _Disclaimer III: Dark themes and a general trigger warning (Potentially) marked *=8=*_

 _Edited and beta'd by Combat Engineer_

 **Chapter II**

"So what was he like?"

Judy's question wasn't surprising but it was hardly welcome.

"Why don't you ask him yourself? You've got the genuine article in a room upstairs."

Fangmeyer downed a shot, despite Judy's scowl.

"I doubt he's the type to tell me his life story, especially considering we met not even fifteen minutes ago." Fangmeyer nodded at that, it was a valid point.

"You've heard the stories-"

"Stories that tell me what me he's _done_ , not who he _is_."

Fangmeyer glanced at Judy as he poured and downed another shot.

"Why the sudden interest?"

"For the past seven years. every time his name comes up, anyone who's met him has done nothing but sing his praises. Those of us who joined after he disappeared sit around awkwardly, not sure whether or not to believe you old timers because we've never met the mammal, and right now I'm rather disinclined to believe that _that_ ," She pointed to the room Nick had entered, "is the same mammal in all those stories. Or has he been a broken soul the entire time?"

"Yeah, actually he has been."

"…What?"

"Come on Judy, you're not dense, I just said you're right. I've been completely fucking blind to not see it until just now. I mean, let's just think about this for a second." Fangmeyer knocked his drink back and sat upright in the chair.

"He lost his parents at age _fifteen_ , tracked down his parents murderer, and when he found the bastard, he _literally_ ripped his throat out. Think about that. Three years later at age _eighteen_ , he was a part of the posse who tracked down your uncle Harold. You know about him?"

Judy shook her head once in the negative.

"While we were tracking him, he picked us off one by one. Always from a distance, with his long rifle. Then one day we come across a ranch, burned to ground. The corpses were the worst thing I've ever seen. Your uncle…the family at the ranch…let's say it was bad and leave it at that."

"How do you know my uncle did it?"

"You don't want to know, but there was no way he didn't."

Judy sighed at that. "Fangs, we've had this talk before, are you just saying that, or was there absolutely no doubt? Also, if he was as bad as you and the others say he is, why isn't he dead? I've been with you on posses hunting mammals who've killed Marshalls or Sheriffs or done the unspeakable. Try as I might to get our fellow Marshalls to do so, not one of those posses has shown mercy in any way."

Fangmeyer looked away. He didn't like to remember that particular chase. "On the first matter, there absolutely was no doubt that it was him. On the second, we didn't show mercy, we threw him in Fort Carcel."

"How is Fort Carcel different from any other prison?"

"It's the only hard labor prison in the western hemisphere. Though hard labor is more of an analogy for slavery." Fangmeyer took another drink at that, knowing Judy would be recoiling at the idea of it.

"He can't possibly have done so much that he actually deserved to be enslaved, surely?!"

"The fort is very small Judy, I assure you, forty mammals imprisoned max. I also assure he most definitely _did_ deserve to be thrown in there."

Judy ordered a drink at hearing this. She had known her father was bad. She _hadn't_ known she had an uncle who was quite possibly even worse. So much so, that the only fitting punishment was for her uncle to be enslaved.

Fangmeyer saw Judy's understandably shocked face. "Don't think about it. You don't want to know what a mammal could do to literally deserve enslavement Judy, I see what he did every night in my dreams. And I guarantee the other five Marshalls, including the one upstairs do as well."

"How bad was it?" Judy seemed shaken and Fangmeyer wasn't surprised. She had been on the Frontier as a Marshall for seven years, and was still the most optimistic mammal he knew, a bright light for those around them to see.

"I'd like to think Harold Hopps wasn't a rabbit, but a demon in disguise. Because if that monster was a rabbit, how many of your family could be like that? I know you aren't, but…"

The rest of the thought remained unspoken, but it was clear, one mammal like Harold was enough and the world was a sorry enough place without more like him. The two sat in silence for a while after that, though it was clear to Fangmeyer that Judy was thinking.

"So it's clear Nick is broken," Judy started mulling over the thought like a miner in a stream. "in order to help him even begin to heal, I think we're going to need know what happened. What caused a living legend to turn himself into dust in the wind on for seven years? What's more, how did no one find out about what happened during all this time?" She looked up at Fangmeyer who looked rather crestfallen.

"Judy, you're going to give me a hangover." He received the _Look_ in return. Judy didn't swear, she just gave looks. The look she was giving Fangmeyer and tone when she spoke simply screamed ' _Are you rutting kidding me?'_  
"I'm sitting here trying to help another mammal, one who was a very good friend of yours-"

"I never said that. I told you stories about him. Stories that _everyone_ in the Marshalls knows. Sure, there are a lot of them, but I just told you, that I just now realised that Nick, had in fact, been broken the entire time he was with us. The fact that we're only figuring this out now just proves how good his poker face is, and like you said with just broken he is… Honestly, Nick is too smart for us to slither through this, our best bet is too just talk to him about it head on."

Judy cocked her head at that, normally she was the one who wanted to tackle something head on, while Fangmeyer usually wanted be to subtler.

"What have you done with Joseph Fangmeyer?" the tiger snorted at that.

"Judy. I hate to use stereotypes, but compared even to other fox's he's sly as hell. He _will_ see through anything we try to pull on him. He didn't bully his way into capturing criminals, he tricked them. Also, as far as no one finding out anything in Respite, I have a guess as to why. For one, no one we've talked to has really digged deep there, or anywhere else for that matter. And honestly, despite how suspicious it was, I don't think anyone found anything because no one _wanted_ to find what was essentially staring us in the face. We didn't want to come face to face with our own mortality."

Judy didn't really have anything to say to that, it was true after all. Nicholas Wilde was an obscure legend to her. To older Marshalls like Fangmeyer, he was a living, breathing legend who seemed almost invincible.

"Why did he always bring them in alive, all those criminals?"

"I don't know honestly, you'll have to ask him…So what are we going to do next? Go into the room and tell him he's broken, which he probably already knows? I don't think he's going to take that well." Fangmeyer sighed, "Seriously how the hell do we fix a broken mammal who knows he _is_ broken, but is probably too damn stubborn and prideful to admit it?"

"We can only do half of it Fangs," Judy shook her head slowly, "we can offer the help, tell him we're there for him, but he has to decide that there's something worth fixing. There are times I hate this place, the Frontier…Too many good mammals have been crushed and destroyed out here."

"I know, Judy, I know. Let's head up there, get this over with, so it's early enough that we can still rent a room for ourselves if need be."

"Nick offered to let us stay-"

"He offered to let us stay, not be a cliche and tell him he's broken and that we're here to help him." Fangmeyer stood up and grabbed his kit and began to make his way up the stairs, with Judy following shortly after.

Fangmeyer tapped on the door and poked his head in.

=8=

Nick had just about fallen asleep when there was a tap on the door. Nick half-opened his eye to see Fangmeyer poking his head after dismissing the instinct to reach for his gun. Mammals who had his death on their minds didn't bother to knock.

"Can we come in?"

"Offer still stands."

The two Marshalls stepped into the room each carrying their equipment. The room was actually quite luxurious, provided one didn't inspect anything too closely. It was also rather crowded with a rabbit, fox, and tiger all sharing it. It was rather awkward.

"I think I should I get a separate room…Yeah, I'll be right back Judy." Fangmeyer left taking his gear with him, leaving behind a hesitant Judy and a suspicious Nick.

"Is there any particular reason why Fangmeyer's going to be coming back?" Nick asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What? Uh, nope, no reason, no rea-"

"You're a horrible liar fluff. So, let's think about why on earth would Fangmeyer come back? Not to sound egotistical but I dare say it has something to do with me. Because it's definitely not _personal_ as you wouldn't have even thought of accepting my offer. It's probably not equipment related as there's not much reason to check your equipment before morning. I doubt it's about any wanted you're tracking as you two are here and not staying at the local sheriff's. So, that leaves me, a mammal who was considered a living legend years ago by the Marshalls. A group I have done my level best to avoid for the past seven years. Suddenly, you two find me in what is essentially a random saloon, one of many thousands out on the Frontier. And I have no interest in rejoining. And you want to know why. Correct?"

"Fang was right, you are sly as hell." Judy shook her head slowly.

"Thank you." Nick took the time to appreciate the comment so many meant as an insult as a compliment, it was true after all. His face morphed into a half-lidded smirk, one that was meant to be infuriating but was seen by Judy as a wall, an obstacle.

"But you're only mostly right."

"Oh?"

"We already know why you don't want a badge again."

"This ought to be interesting."

"You're broken, and if I didn't know any better I'd say you want to stay that way. It's almost like you're a captain who wants to be left alone so he can go down with his ship. Why?"

Nick cocked his head at the rabbit standing before him. The concern in her voice was obvious, as if the upright ears, wide eyes, and twitching nose wasn't enough of a giveaway.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you care? I'm just a fox."

"You're still a mammal."

The smirk slipped...ever so slightly. "I'm not in the habit of telling the twenty-nine-yearlong sob story that is my life to a complete stranger fluff. I don't think I'll start now."

"There's a first time for everything."

"Not for this there isn't."

"Yes, there is a first time for this, and that was a good deflection but you didn't answer my original question. Why do you seem so intent on living alone despite the fact that there are those that care about you?"

Nick sighed. "Listen rabbit, it's a long story and to be honest, I doubt you'll want to be near me after I tell it. The likely causes for that is you'll think I'm crazy or that I'm a monster, the most probable though is both." Nick had been tapping on a bed impatiently wanting this conversation to end but stopped when he heard Judy's response.

"I've got time, and I'm a Hopps, as I understand it you're more familiar with a certain uncle of mine than you'd like. I lived in the home that spawned him for the first seventeen years of my of life, and I've spent the last seven out here on the Frontier. It's going to take more than a little 'woe is me' attitude to scare me away _Marshall Nicholas Wilde_ , so s _tart talking._ "

Nick simply stood there and stared at the rabbit. He had to admit she could be scary if she wanted to, and stubborn. But so could he.

"You've got time, huh?" She nodded.

"Well then you might as well find something to do because you're going to be spending a lot of time in silence until you finally understand that _I'm Not. Talking. To. You._ "

It was the world's first recorded instance of the theoretical meeting of the immovable object and the unstoppable force. And so Nick went over and flopped on the bed, closing his eyes to try and sleep. This resulted in Judy following after him, bringing a chair over right next to where he was lying and staring intently at him. And neither force nor object moved. Eventually, Judy realized that that is what they were; her, an unstoppable force determined to get her way, and him, an immovable object content to simply let everything flow around him. So what if they both decided to moved?

"I'll make you a deal."

"What kind of deal fluff?"

"I'll tell you my story if you tell me yours?"

"And why would I do that, Carrots?" Judy scowled.

"One, don't call me Carrots. Two I think you're afraid of mammals getting to know you, because you think that's a weakness."

"You're not wrong. Knowledge is power, power that'd I'd rather not let any mammal have over me, so go away. I'm not telling you my story, _Carrots._ "

"You're not, I'll tell you first, as an act of faith."

"And why would I listen?"

"So you know that not all of the Hopps family is rotten to the core, and tit for tat."

"...Well, since you seem intent on wasting your breath, go ahead."

*=8=*

"I suppose I should start with the place itself. The manor was huge, room for all fourteen hundred of its current residents and a thousand more who have yet to be born. I didn't realize it at the time, but there's no way in hell my 'family' made enough money from the spice and medicinal trade to afford a palace that can rival Versailles. It's a good source of income sure, but good enough to give all fourteen hundred of those living there plates and utensils made of silver? I don't think so…."

"Which is where the 'rumors' come in. A lot of mammals say that the Hopps family is involved with the side of the meat industry that feeds mammals to other mammals, among other things. I can say that for fact that they are. We've both heard that the 'Big' or Antonelli mob ices mammals who seriously displease him by majorly screwing up in one way or another. Well, my father likes to disappear those who disagree with him…on anything. And, well, we never had shortage of meat for any 'dignitaries' or 'honored guests' who happened to be predators."

"The only reason I survived is because of the fact that the manor has space for a thousand more rabbits. Leaves a lot of hiding spaces. Especially handy when I had suitors visiting who father was trying to gift me too." Judy snorted in disgust at the memory of her time there. "Hard to rape a female if you can't find her."

"That and the small group that a mind similar to mine. One of us was my wet nurse, Tracy Brown, the others were my siblings. There were actually quite a few of us, around forty or so who were in this group, servants and family alike, and we all had the same goal in mind. To get the hell out of there and to help any of our group do so, if we could. Out of the forty of us eight made it out. Ashleigh, Brady, Bailey, Charlie, Jessica, Jane, Jordan, and ,yself. The rest are all dead."

"I never knew my mother either. From what I was told she was pregnant with my littermates and I when she caught my 'father' with another doe. One of her sisters actually, one her sisters that he kept 'on call'. She objected to him having so many mistresses, and well, he didn't like that. She 'disappeared' the day after our birth. Tracy my soon to be wet nurse at the time was in a panic looking for my mother. She came across my father who had just finished 'entertaining' one of his mistresses. He told Tracy to stop looking for her, she was gone and wouldn't be coming back…Except as part of a meal."

"So whenever I think of my family, I think of a surprisingly small group for a rabbit. What's funny is Tracy, Charlie and Jordan aren't even rabbits. Tracy is a Tasmanian devil, Charlie, a squirrel, and Jordan a ferret. Funny how that works. I suppose if one is determined enough, they can resist any kind of evil."

*=8=*

Nick didn't quite know how to respond; he'd had a rough life himself sure. But he hadn't had a family that would just as soon let suitors rape him or feed him to predators they were hosting, as they would talk to him. He looked at the bunny again. Judy was made of steel. She hadn't even shed a tear or sniffled over the whole tale.

"I... I'm sorry I guess, there's really not much to say to that, honestly."

"You can tell me your story."

"I suppose it's only fitting tell you after that, huh?" Judy nodded, "I maintain the right to omit certain parts of it."

"Coward." The rib was said with a smile, but he understood the point.

"Fine, I won't leave anything out." Nick sighed, these weren't memories he liked to remember.

*=8=*

"My home was nothing special really. It was a typical log cabin near a relatively large trading town along the Mizzo River. It wasn't the biggest, but it was just me, my mother, and my father."

"Father was the owner of the only tailors shop in town, Wilde & Sons. Mother worked at the saloon in town. And there's no need for that look Carrots, she wasn't like one of the fancy girl's downstairs. No. believe it or not. she was the bartender and heaven forbid anyone upset her. There was one time a wolf came in when I was fourteen, and he was gone, completely sloshed. Stumbling, slurring his words the like. Anyhow, he made the mistake of grabbing my mother's tail. He was then introduced to 'Big Bess'. Big Bess being the double barrel shotgun my mother kept behind the bar that was half her size and kicked like hell in the paws of any mammal smaller than a tiger."

"You don't have very many stories like that, do you? I'm not surprised, it sounds like you had your paws full just surviving."

"From the age of five I spent most of my time in the shop with my father, learning everything there is to know about tailoring. You name it, I can do it. Funnily enough, I learned my mother's job as well at age twelve, though I didn't focus on it. I was going to be a tailor after all, I enjoyed the work and I was good at it. Mammals make plans and the gods laugh…."

"The town being a trade town we got quite a bit of traffic. Most of those coming through were decent folk. But there were the bad ones. My parents had gone out that morning, It was spring and it was the first day of the year really warm enough for a walk. I woke up saw they had left and started fixing breakfast. I was about down when I heard, I don't know how many, Five I think, gunshots. So, I went downstairs to see what was going on, gunshots in town were't uncommon. I wish I'd moved faster."

"There, lying in pools of their own blood, were my parents, with a small crowd gathered around with a couple mammals trying to help, most didn't bother. It didn't matter, I watched my parents bleed to death in front of me. My parents, whose last words were 'we love you'."

"The bank took everything after that, my home, what should have been _my_ shop, what little we had had in savings. They basically stole it all. And I couldn't get a loan to buy the shop back either, despite literally every mammal in town vouching for me and my family. 'Can't trust a fox', they said. And the Sheriff didn't have to authority to chase after my parent's murderer and even if he had had the authority, he still had to protect the town."

"So I made a choice. I scrounged up what I could and set after my parent's murderer myself. Two months. I spent two months following him. And eventually when I caught up to him, it came down to him or me in some random cave, so we fought, with claws and fangs. You want to know the most terrifying part about that fight, when I finally…ended it? I had enjoyed it, Judy. He had a family too, what he did was 'wrong' sure. But was what I did any better? He deprived me of my parents. But I deprived his family of a father...or a son...or a brother…"

"When Bogo found me I, was a sight to see, dried blood on muzzle, fangs, and claws. I hadn't scarcely moved in two days. Had Bogo been any longer I would have died from lack of water alone. Turns out Sheriff Todd had sent a wire to Bogo somehow, which set Bogo after both me and my parent's killer. I didn't have anything left, so Bogo made me an offer. Become a Marshall, 'make the world a better place'."

"How do you make the world a better place when you have the likes of Harold Hopps roaming free? Three years later I was the youngest Marshall ever, and I was a part of the posse that was to track him down, and bring him to justice. When we finally managed to get close enough to find his camps ashes still warm after two weeks of hunting him down, he started to pick us off. Irregularly taking shots at us. Sometimes killing, sometime not. Every time we got to where he had shot at us from, he was gone, but we were still getting closer. It took us less to get to where he was than for him to get someplace and set up. Then for about three days, there were no potshots."

"We came across a burned-out ranch. Harold liked to use an old turkey brand to mark train and bank jobs he had done, a calling card, a taunt. This time howeverm it wasn't a piece of wood that was branded. He taken the family that owned the ranch and killed them all. But apparently wanton murder wasn't enough for him…. It was a family of wolves, three adults or near adults, and several pups. He…. He had skinned all of them, Judy…. And stretched and branded their skins…. We finally caught him six days later though there were only seven of us. I think that's the only time I've ever killed without regret…When we were fighting what was left of his gang. I knocked him out though, _He_ was going to Fort Carcel. _He_ was going to be worked to the bone and die a lonely death. But I _do_ regret putting him there, not because of the slavery, death is just too easy for the likes of him, but because he escaped seven years ago. I should have just killed him; gods only know what he's doing now…."

"We all wound in Respite after that. The town didn't have a sheriff, so I volunteered to act as one until they found one they liked. The town wasn't a bad place, though every potential sheriff that came through was dismissed, and I thought they liked me. I had mammals whom I considered friends. I was living comfortably. I still have no idea what changed. A Posse came in one day looking for a murderer. Handed me the poster for a Wolverine named 'William Gates', he was actually in the saloon at time. I told them as such, but they decided that _I_ was guilty. Of what I was guilty of, other than the misfortune of being born a fox perhaps, I don't know. This was the result." Nicked turned and pulled his shirt off, causing her to gasp and bring her paws to her face. Under his fur was a series a of crisscrossing scars, across the entirety of his back.

"I was found by a coyote, I eventually wound up calling him Jerome. But he found me in quite the sorry state I've been told. My furs regrown since it happened, not as thick as it used to be but close. Apparently, I was covered in blood. I recovered somewhat fast though, while there were a lot of wounds they didn't do too much to my insides. I was with the tribe for the entire winter."

"At the end of winter we were attacked by a rival tribe. I fought…Literally with fang and claw. Killed five mammals. It was like a switch had been flipped. One moment I was half-asleep at peace with the world the next, anything I didn't recognize was an enemy. At the end of it, it was like that switch was flipped again…I stopped my friend from shooting the badger in the back…How does any sane mammal go from killing mercilessly to sparing a fleeing enemy like that?"

" _That_ was seven years ago…."

=8=

For a long time Judy didn't react. The two simply sat and stared at each other. Judy, trying to comprehend all of Nick's story. Nick trying not to let the memories overwhelm him. Why had he told her all of that? _Why?_ Life was easier being detached from the world and the mammals in it. _Why_ would he tell her all of it, literally, all of it when he could tell she was about to run away. Because she treated you like an actual mammal, the back of his mind answered. _So, did the people of Respite…._

"Satisfied? Happy you know all about your legend? That the mammal you so look up to is a monster? Who kills like he's a savage?! _**Satisfied?!**_ "

Judy flinched at the fox who steadily rose his voice, until she thought she would go deaf at his yelling.

"Satisfied….?"

Judy simply got up from where she was sitting and approached the fox…Nick… He wasn't some random mammal. He was a broken soul who had told her everything…for no reason. Trusted her more than he had trusted any other mammal, in all likelihood.

Nick was surprised when he felt two soft but well-muscled arms wrap around him. It was Judy, the first mammal in years to really treat him as such. Even his aunt and uncle were distant, his father and uncle having not really been close. He returned the hug, as his ears picked up the sound of sniffles.

"Why are _you_ the one crying?"

"No mammal should have to go through that, Nick, no mammal."

She could feel his scars now. He was right, his fur had mostly grown back. But instead of the smoothness most mammals had on the flats of their backs, Judy felt like she was holding her paws over small ridges, where the scars crisscrossed, and there were oh so many of them. The two sat there like that, holding each other close, on the bed, for what seemed to be an eternity.

Eventually, as Judy fell asleep Nick slipped out of her grasp let her have the bed. He slept on the couch, though he wondered if that might ever change. Among other thoughts, such as why he had opened up to her, when he hadn't even told Jerome a quarter of what he had told Judy. Unbeknownst to him, his sub-conscious had the answer. His sub-conscious remembered a conversation about how Death had shown Nick his paradise, even though it had been missing a certain mammal.

* * *

A/N: Chapter Two finally, only three weeks later... I need to update faster, I've been running around like a headless chicken, trying to get my shit together. So, thank you for waiting. And thank you, for the kind and honest reviews, they really do help. Especially the honesty, good criticism makes it easier for me to find what I'm doing wrong. Speaking of this deserves another more specific mention, shout out to Combat Engineer for finding a metric crap ton of just tiny little errors, and pointing them out to me. Until next(which is hopefully sooner), have a good one folks.


	6. Chapter III

_Disclaimer I: Zootopia and it's characters belong to the wonderful people at Disney: This is a fanfiction meant to be entirely non-profit._

 _Disclaimer II: There will be violence and blood in this story._

 _Chapter III_

November 12, 1880

The first snows of winter were late this year, which wasn't surprising, it had been a hot, dry, and long summer. What was surprising was that Old Man Winter had decided to make his presence known by skipping the usual slow and steady snowfall that commonly happened earlier in the season. Instead the first snows of the winter of 1880-1881 came violently, turning the world white, and howling like a banshee. Like all blizzards it was very effective at convincing mammals of all kinds to simply stay in bed.

It was the howling wind that woke Nick up in the early hours of the morning. He looked about the room, slightly disoriented after waking so suddenly from such sound sleep. He looked over to the bed and saw Judy cuddled up with and surrounded by the many pillows from both the bed and the various chairs in the room. He was slightly surprised by the sight of her sleeping still as her hearing had to be better than his. Simultaneously he wasn't surprised, he'd become a light sleeper fourteen years ago since his parents' died. Lighter still in the seven years since Respite.

He got up and dressed silently. Deciding that breakfast and a pot the life-giving elixir coffee was going to be needed, mostly because of a gut feeling he had. This feeling being that Judy was going to want talk about last night. Truthfully he did to. How he had opened up for what was essentially no reason. He could have easily rebuffed her, pushed her away and mocked her like he would have with any other mammal. He was glad he hadn't. Doing so would have felt wrong, not morally, but instinctually.

It didn't surprise him. The world was strange after all, especially the one that seemed to surround him. He'd had a particularly violent coming of age, a particularly violent career, and now, out of the wild blue yonder, a mammal who thought of _him_ as a mammal. All that was left was to wait for whatever storm life was going to send his way next, whether it was bad or good.

Making his way downstairs Nick looked about the saloon. There were two patrons other patrons Nick didn't know and Fangmeyer. The tiger was staring out one of the windows at the whitened world beyond the walls of the saloon. After grabbing a cup of coffee, Nick made sure to make break his habit of approaching other mammals silently by scratching his claws slightly on the floor while coming up to the Marshall. He intended to live longer than twenty-nine years.

"I see the snows have come in."

Fangmeyer turned to fox who had taken a seat beside him. Most would have asked to sit, but Nick never had, and it looked like he still didn't. It wasn't a lack of manners, just the brusqueness and confidence that the fox bore, that the tiger had so recently learned was nothing but a facade. Though the fox did seem different. His chest and back sat a little straighter and he willingly had his back turned to the room, quite the change from last night.

"I take it your conversation with Judy went well?"

"I'm assuming I smell a bit of her." The fox asked, turning from the limited view. The response to his question was a slight nod of the head.

"I'll also assume you know it was nothing more than a hug. Though I do wonder why she was so ready to hug me."

Fangmeyer nodded again. It was no surprise Nick smelled slightly of Judy, they had slept in the same room. Though it was weak, so nothing beyond the level of the hug Nick had informed the tiger of had transpired. He hadn't expected anything to either, neither were the kind of mammal to be so promiscuous.

"She's a friendly mammal, optimistic too. Seen everything an average Marshall might see and still holds on to an amount of hope that's damn near suffocating."

This elicited a light chuckle from Nick. The two mammals were distracted by the bartender coming over to refill their coffee and take any orders for breakfast. With Nick ordering and paying for himself, and Fangmeyer ordering and paying for both himself and Judy. After the wolf left it was Fangmeyer who spoke again.

"Judy's biggest strength is also her biggest weakness. Anything she does, she pours her whole heart into it. Right now and for what's likely to be the next five months that is _you_. I suspect she'll get close to you, I don't know how close." The tiger sighed, taking in a large amount of the black liquid in his cup. "Don't hurt her, she doesn't deserve it." The tiger finished his first cup of coffee that morning to see the cook coming over and Nick finishing his second cup. Though the vulpine seemed to be in deep thought and waited until their meals were delivered before he spoke.

"I'm not surprised. And I don't intend on hurting her." The fox chuckled ruefully at that. "She's the first mammal to treat me as one _upon_ _meeting_ me in near seven years. I'll admit I've been lonely, and I don't think I can be 'fixed'." He snorted turning up to the tiger. "I'm too bitter to be so full of youthful exuberance again. I do think she'll help me find peace...maybe even happiness." There was deeper meaning to that last bit though Fangmeyer had no idea what it was. Soon after, the fox was gathering both his and Judy's meals.

"I think I'll take this up before it gets cold. The talking between Judy and I isn't quite done yet."

With that the fox was of back upstairs leaving the larger mammal to his thoughts, which wandered, and regularly came back to both Nick and Judy.

=8=

Nick knocked on the door to room and waited for a count of five before entering, still holding the two plates with both his paw and the crook of his elbow. Judy was still asleep cuddled up in and around the various pillows. After carefully closing the door Nick brought their breakfast over to the coffee table in the room, and set the plates down. He then realised that he had forgotten coffee, and left to get it.

Coming back in, after knocking and waiting for a count of five again, he stole a closer look at the rabbit occupying the bed. Simply put she looked adorable, though he decided it would be best if he kept that to himself. If the events of last night and what Fangmeyer had said this morning was anything to go by, and he was certain it was, she was quite the firebrand. Eventually the line of thought in which Nick was taking in how cute Judy was, led him back to the reason he and Judy needed to talk. But first he had to wake her up.

He grabbed a cup of coffee and walked over to the bed. Holding the cup near her muzzle and wafting the smell towards her nose. It was a rather universal wake up call on the frontier and with Judy having been out here for seven years, he expected her to at least know of the smell of coffee as a wake up call.

It didn't work. Even after several more wafts.

He returned to the table and set cup. For a moment he realised he could always go back downstairs and ask Fangmeyer how he woke her up. The thought was quickly dismissed however, for the sole reason of Nick's pride. She was a cute little bunny. Yes, she was also a Marshall, but still, how hard could she be to wake up?

Very hard. Impossible almost.

Nick tried the same thing with food as he had with the coffee, only for Judy to roll over and lose the pillow she was cuddling with. Next came shaking her shoulder, only to have his arm rather aggressively swatted away. He tried holding her ankle and saying her name, something Bogo had likely trained her to respond to as the buffalo had with him. He even made the mistake of tickling her nose. There was no feather in sight so Nick had simply used his tail, resulting in Judy having a new russet-furred extremity to cuddle. It took Nick fifteen minutes to retrieve his tail from the grasp of the surprisingly strong bunny.

After the cuddled-tail struggle Nick sat on the couch near the table with the breakfast and looked over at the sleeping rabbit. _'Apparently she even goes after sleep with the whole of her heart. I can't decide whether that's good or bad for me...Let's Hope it's good._ '

The last part of that thought was punctuated with a snort. Since when was he the optimistic type?

Which was when Judy choose to stir, either from the outside influence of Nicks snort, which he found unlikely, or her internal clock. And as Judy stretched through the throws of waking after sound sleep she noticed the fox sitting on the couch, beside a table of what was presumably breakfast.

"Good morning."

"This morning ceased to be good about thirty seconds ago."

Needless to say this worried Judy. She had thought last night had gone well, so well in fact she had started to have thoughts, that told she was reading into the night too much. And not that she would ever tell Nick this, but he was the reason she wound cuddling with all the pillows last night. Just as she was about to react and ask why her waking was such a horrible thing, Nick continued on in Judy could only assume was his usual sarcastic manner.

"For the sole reason of that is time that my cup no longer contained the life-giving elixir known as coffee." For a moment all Judy could do was sigh in relief, until Nick's words registered, resulting in her giving a small chuckle.

"For the two of us, I presume." She had pointed at the breakfast and after Nick nodded climbed out of the bed, while he poured some coffee from the pot he had purposefully ignored. Her travel clothes had been rumpled by her sleep but it didn't matter, a few wrinkles didn't mean they unfit for their job.

"I'm surprised you didn't try to wake me." That earned a snort from Nick.

"I did and you sleep like a gods damned rock." Judy just shrugged, it wasn't surprising to her. She considered saloons like this to be a place where she could at least be somewhat relaxed.

"Well, considering I woke naturally it's probably around 5:30. I have to admit it's somewhat surprising to see you here, I figured there was a good chance you would try to skip town if possible." Again Nick chuckled.

"No, it would have felt wrong after last night, which is something we need to talk about by the way. Besides it _isn't_ possible."

"Fangmeyer's at the door?"

"Yes, though I find the blizzard that could bury me alive to be far more intimidating." That made sense, small mammals like Judy herself and Nick couldn't often venture out into the storms, too great a chance of being buried. And she doubted he had the money to afford a

"So what do you want to talk about, concerning last night that is?" This had Nick taking pause as he collected his thoughts. There were a couple of things, though one of them wasn't _exactly_ appropriate.

"The first thing is about something Fangmeyer told me while I was getting coffee. He said you tend to go after something with all your heart, and that that something was likely to be me these next few months now that we're wintering."

"You got to me, and got me to admit I was broken you, the first time I've ever admitted such to another mammal. The thing is I don't think I can be 'fixed', Judy, which shouldn't come as a surprise to you after last night. So is there any 'grand plan' so to speak?"

Judy considered this for a moment. He was right, she wasn't surprised.

"No, there's not a plan, really. I don't expect to 'fix' you though. All I want to do is, maybe help you find peace? Fangmeyer was right, I am going to go after you with all my heart. So anything you think will help, I'll help you with." This left Nick staring at Judy for a few moments, as there it was again.

"Judy what do you know about Fox courtship?"

Judy for her part, simply took a sip of her coffee. "Not much, why?"

"Because you keep saying things like 'I am going to go after you with all my heart'. That doesn't exactly leave much doubt as to what a mammals intentions are. Also Stories are a major part of Fox culture. Stories, like our life stories that _we_ happened to exchange last night, usually start with something along the lines of 'I tell this in friendship', or end in something along the lines of 'May I court you?'. You, however said nothing of the such, I'm assuming out of ignorance to Fox culture." Nick moved from the couch he was sitting on to kneeling in front of Judy at this point, his expression one of concern and wonder. "Is there something you're not telling me? Like an intention to court me?"

Once again Judy played cool, merely taking a sip of her coffee. "If there is an intention to court you? Do foxes have something against a female making the offer?" Nick sighed not quite believing he was about to say this to a rabbit he had met _yesterday_.

"No, Foxes are Matriarchal so, if anything, it's expected of the female to make the offer. So are you going to tell me whether or not there is an intention?"

"Yes, there is."

"Why?"

"You can't just take yes for an answer?"

"No, I can't. Not when I met you yesterday." The two looked in the others eyes. In Judy's there was a determination that would have caused most to cower. In Nick's there was a curiosity of the same magnitude.

"Talking to you last night I told you details that I've not told anyone else. And you were so entirely understanding, more so than Fang, that I actually found it astonishing. I shouldn't have been surprised, Life hasn't been kind to either of us. I can't imagine what you must think of this… Some silly bunny, spinning fantasies in her head about a mammal set up to be her Idol...But there is a mammal sitting next to me who is so much more than the stories that are told about him. They just so happen to be one and the same, though I find the latter more interesting than the former. And I will admit that I've not thought but this much before. Never had the time, it was a distraction that I didn't need. But I'd like to think that whoever becomes my mate would be able to make me feel...at peace. I felt that last night and I'm quite confident that you did as well. And seven years is a long time to go without companionship. So yes, I intend to court you."

Nick stood slowly and walked away to window, absorbing what he heard. She wasn't wrong , about any of it. Life had dealt the both of them harsh lives and harsh blows in equal measure. Judy had not been loved by someone she actually had contact with for seven years. For Nick that length of time was fourteen years. Maybe the Fates had decided to finally start pulling punches, even if only slightly. But there was one more thing to speak of…

"I'll make you deal…"Nick began, slowly turning away, and motioning for Judy to join him on the bed. "Everyday we'll tell each other one story. About ourselves and about our...cultures, or we'll just have a nice long philosophical discussion if we ever run out of stories. Just like last night. And while this isn't exactly a story, I need to know something. I need to know if you'll think I'm crazy."

"What I told you last night about...Respite...wasn't everything. Foxes are generally associated cunning, outside of our own stories. Have you ever heard that Death is the truly neutral thing in life? That Death does not take those whose times have not come? It's true. But there are...complications sometimes. Death isn't omnipotent, he can't predict the future."

Judy held up her paw to stop Nick for a moment. "He?"

Nick simply plowed on. "I'm getting to that. Death also has quite a bit of say as to when someone's time is."

"The wounds I received from that prey posse seven years ago were fatal. I was spared by Death himself after I had a _conversation_ with him. I've been having that same _conversation_ with him for _seven_ years, Judy, the same one every night like clockwork. Until last night, last night was the first time in those seven years I've gotten a full night's sleep…"

Nick now turned to Judy, looking her in the eyes. "You deserve to know what kind of crazy you're going to have to deal with. You really want to go through with this?"

It was yet another moment of silence that wasn't uncomfortable per se, but tense.

"Yes. You have the biggest heart I've ever seen, Nick. That you'd tell me...this...after knowing me for one day…? After all the wrong that's been dealt to you by life?"

"You don't believe me do you?"

"No, I do."

 _No, Judy **you** have the biggest heart._

=8=

Nothing. A nice big shit load of nothing. Neither hair nor hide. Two weeks and there was nothing to be heard of or found of Nicholas Wilde. Harold understood rationally that his odds of finding the fox in the vast expanse that was the frontier with so little information; and with what little he did have being absolutely pitiful, were microscopic.

But Harold wasn't in the mood to be patient. The bar itself was loud. The piano was so out of tune it sounded like a group of wailing widows. All in all the stereotypical saloon that belonged in a two shit turkey ranching town. Which was why he was currently on his sixth shot. The inebriated rabbit gazed around a bar which was currently doing acrobatic stunts. There were a couple of dancers here who were rabbits. _'Apparently the foxes of this town like bunnies.'_ Harold thought sluggishly. He couldn't decide if he wanted to try and get lucky, old as he was, or get in a fight. The doors opened up again, and stayed open for too long, resulting in someone shouting for whoever came in to 'Close that thrice damned door'.

Harold spun on his seat to eye the new comer. Surprise surprise, in a town mostly populated by foxes it was a fox. Only this fox was different. This fox looked familiar. Harold spun on his seat again to the bartender, who was ready to cut the rabbit off.

"Thhat fawx. Was 'is name?"

"Why do you ask?"

"'E lookie fami'lar. 'M nah too goo' wi' faces. Great wit names. 'Orrid with faces.'

"That's George Wilde."

=888=

 _A/N: I feel as though I should make some things clear, right now. There will never be smut in this story. The second is courting. Traditional courting isn't even dating, Nick and Judy sharing the room would be considered highly improper, and if they held paws in a public place there would be a decent chance of Nick getting shot, and **not** just because he's a fox. Also I haven't been able to see two reviews and I don't even know who posted them. I don't know what is going on because someone posted a review after those two and I could see it, I'll try checking my settings. Speaking of, please keep up the reviews I do read them all, and they do help me decide some of the more minor parts of the story or give me ideas that I can include. Until next time folks, have a good one._


	7. Chapter IV

_Disclaimer I: Zootopia and its characters are owned by their wonderful creators at Disney, this is a fanfiction meant to be entirely non-profit_

 _Disclaimer II: There will be blood and violence in this story._

 _Disclaimer III: Dark themes and a general trigger warning (Potentially) marked *=8=*_

April 14, 1881

The winter had been a fierce one, the snow getting so deep at times, that it came up to Fangmeyers chest. That resulted in Nick and Judy revoking their promise to tell each other one story or tidbit of information about themselves rather quickly. Instead of one thing, it quickly became three a day, at the least.

It was these sessions of stories that kept the two from getting cabin fever. It also resulted in the two getting understandably closer. Judy had kept her word too and was closely and very carefully courting Nick. If he didn't know better he'd think she thought of him as fragile.

She was right.

Nick knew it too. His nightly dream about that conversation with Death he'd had near seven and a half years ago, had gone, replaced. Replaced by dreams of the same meadow, with the same cabin, and the same stream. Only now there was another occupant that had long ears, gray fur, and violet eyes. A dream that often turned from pleasant to nightmarish in an instant. The most common night terror having Judy pull a Cat 'o' Nine Tails and use it on him, screaming obscenities and insults at him.

He would wake afterward to find his heart beating so fast he would fear that it would explode. There were other dreams. One in which his parent's corpses would rise from the stream and pollute the dream, turning his idea of paradise, into a hellish quagmire that belonged only in some twisted artists' paintings. Another in which he would relive his torture at Respite, except it would never end until he woke. The worst, however, was a combination of the three.

Judy and his parents alike would beat him with nine tails screaming his worthlessness, all while recounting his many other mistakes. Shaming him for running from Respite. Shaming him for acting like a savage and killing with his teeth and claws. That dream had only happened once. When he had woken, he had found himself being cradled in Judy's arms, with his entire body drenched in sweat. Even Fangmeyer had come into the room to make sure he was okay. According to them, his screams had been nothing short of bone-numbing. He didn't speak for three days after that, simply cowering in the den of blankets that had become his bed.

Nick wasn't ashamed about being comforted by a bunny. He wasn't ashamed to admit he was broken, not anymore at least. He was, however, ashamed at how he had acted over the past several because he hadn't faced his problems himself. And even though his rational mind knew it made no sense he was ashamed that he needed help in order to even try to gain some semblance of peace. The scars were there to stay. So were the memories. It wasn't too much of a leap in Nick's mind for the dreams to be there to stay as well.

Maybe that was why he was so willing to be open, or as open as his past let him be, with Judy. She understood, better than one might expect. Nick wasn't the only who had dreams.

She hadn't told him about her dreams, but to be fair, he hadn't told her about his, except for the one, when they had first met. He was glad now that he hadn't rebuffed Judy's admittedly minimal approaches. They hadn't even held paws publicly, but it was still nice to know that there was someone there. Neither would admit it but the others mere presence was often calming enough to help whoever had had the dream return to a state resembling sanity.

Despite the dreams, Nick was happier than he had been in years. Partially was because of the company provided by the two Marshalls, though it was Judy who spent the majority of the time with him. The two had made him realize something over the course of the winter. His uncle had never cared much for Nick. That's not to say Nick was unwelcome at his only remaining families ranch, it's just that the bond between the two todds had never gone beyond the basic familiar ties. Looking back, Nick realized it his fault. He had never made the effort to at least become friends with his uncle. His aunt was perhaps one of the most friendly mammals he had ever met, yet he'd never really taken the time to have an earnest conversation with her. When he had first met Finnick he had offered the tiny fox a chance to come along with him mostly so he didn't have to watch his back, worrying about a diminutive assassin. A chance at an honest job wasn't something many vulpines got, both on the Frontier and back east. Finnick had been grateful, if incredibly wary about Nick while they had traveled to his only family's ranch. The two had never gotten beyond acquaintances. Nick's walls had assured that. Even Jerome, the Coyote who had found Nick and ensured his survival beyond Death's initial grant of mercy had been forced to remain at arm's distance.

He remembered the little monolog he had given to Jerome. Sure he believed what he had said at the time, still did. But it wasn't an explanation, it was a half-assed excuse. He knew why he fought that way under duress. It just felt...Natural. That had been a long discussion with Judy, the two staying up until past dawn. Nick to make sure Judy was comfortable courting a mammal who thought the ends justified the means when it came to a fight. Judy to assure him that it was entirely reasonable.

Today, however, was the end of that. The thaws had come through, and the snow was almost nonexistent. They wouldn't be going their separate ways. They were going to head the Wilde Ranch. Despite never having a relationship beyond small talk with anyone there, he felt he should at least say goodbye, and thank the lot of them for putting up with him over the years. He had no idea what he was going to do after that, however. He was still unsure about putting a badge back on.

Both Judy and Fangmeyer had done their best to relieve that uncertainty but it still remained, something Nick couldn't quite identify was holding him back.

Nick looked around the room that had been his, and Judy's, temporary home for the past five months. He was leaving now. These had been some of the happiest five months of life if he was honest, and it scared him.

=8=

To Judy, the last five months had been bliss. She wasn't going to admit it, not yet anyways, but she was quite confident she had found her soulmate in Nick. She no longer regarded him as 'a fox' or 'the fox' but as 'her fox'. He returned the sentiment too. They had both lightly marked each other on the wrist. Enough to let other mammals know that the both of them were courting. Bigoted as society was towards predators and tribes mammals, interspecies relationships weren't uncommon. Holdovers of tradition from days long past in which countries were often ruled by one specific species or another and marriage was a form of diplomacy used to cement alliances and peace.

Fangmeyer had been right. Nick _had_ been her sole pursuit over the last five months. And if she were honest, she felt truly free for the first time in years.

She could care less about what the socialites back east would think of her, she never interacted with them, and never would again, if she could avoid it. Out on the Frontier, the common attitude was 'live and let live'. And she had someone who she could talk to. _Really_ talk to. Fangmeyer was a great mammal, and a _good_ friend, but that was it. The two got along well enough to have stayed partners and knew a bit about each other. Neither was going to tell the other their life story, however. The two of them got along, but not _that_ well.

No, it was Nick that she talked to. Her hopes. Her fears. Her experiences. And while he had been reticent to do so at first, he had started doing the same. The most important part was the two always managed to immediately or quickly come to an understanding with what the other was talking about.

That had been proven when he had fully discussed how he fought. She knew he had fought with claw and fang before. She soon had learned it had happened more than the two occasions he had specifically told her, however. He had been scared of telling her this too. Unusually underconfident the entire time, he had stuttered and constantly asked if she was okay with it. She had been. She had also picked up on the underlying concern he was sharing with her without blatantly saying it. He _enjoyed_ fighting that way. It was almost ingrained in him, as well. Considering his life up to this point, his 'survival of the fittest' fighting style was relatively tame to what she imagined other mammals responses might have been.

She, in turn, had expressed what she feared within _herself_.

Judy _liked_ getting her paws on criminals. It was something that had slowly developed within her over her years on the Frontier. She _enjoyed_ holding another mammal's life in her paws and twisting it and manipulating it and making them watch as she did so, even if she did nothing with it. It was something that she feared for the past three years. That she was becoming like the vast majority of her 'family', like her father, or uncle. Nick had been wary when she had first started telling him about that. Which she had found perfectly reasonable considering he'd been on the receiving of hell from her 'family', though slightly disconcerting. In the end, she was glad she had told. 'That only proves how you're better than the rest of them, Judy,' He'd said, tenderly cupping her face in his paws, 'While the rest of them sink to that low, and embrace it, you fight it, and you use it to make yourself a better mammal. I can't think of why or how I could ever think less of you for that.'

*=8=*

The plan was to head to Nick's family ranch that was roughly fifty miles to the North West of Alparaiso. Judy and Nick would then tell what limited family and friends the fox had that they were courting. Mostly for the sake of common courtesy and Nick's newfound desire to stop pushing those around him away.

The morning was a gorgeous one. Just the right temperature and breeze. Birds flitting about singing their greetings to the early risers of the world. The sun just coming above the horizon painted the clouds left over from winter with brilliant shades of purple and orange, the types of which could only be found in the sunrise of a lifetime.

They woke the same way they had for the past five months. Fangmeyer, then Nick, with the two getting a cup of coffee each and making small or sometimes going over the past. The latter talks being a semi-subtle effort on Fangmeyer's part to get Nick to wear a badge again. If the time was anything before five thirty, Judy would be found doing a fantastic impersonation of a log. Fangmeyer and Nick had both agreed that Judy could and probably would sleep through cannon fire given the opportunity. Once Judy had woken the group would then share breakfast together.

Today however they rechecked their packs and guns, making sure everything was in order, and as the sun was rising walked out of the small town that had been their world for the past five months.

The banter was limited as they traveled but picked up as stopped to rest at noon when the sun was highest. The next three days were much the same. Up before dawn, eat as the sun was rising, stop at noon, continue until shortly after dusk, then sleep.

The fourth day was different.

They arrived at the ranch.

Or, more accurately what had once been the ranch.

Everything had been razed to the ground, nothing had been left standing. The charred husks of bodies weren't the worse part. The worse part was the pelts of the various mammals who had lived there. The Hopps family brand marked every one of them.

Nick didn't cry. He couldn't. In a way, it was simply too much for him to process. When he saw everything he simply walked to the gate, where the pelts of his friends and family had been hanged, and dropped to his knees. It didn't take long for Judy to join him. At first, she simply stared at her fox, trying to imagine what he was feeling. He, Fangmeyer, and Bogo were the closest she had to family in various ways. She quickly gave up, realizing the only way she could understand that pain was to experience it herself. This was the second time Nick was experiencing losing family, not even to Nature, but to brutal murder.

So after a couple of minutes of standing, she simply sat down next to him and did her best to burrow herself into him. The only indication she had of Nick even registering her presence was his tail wrapping around her.

Fangmeyer for his part recognized the state of his two smaller companions and went about setting up camp. What words could he offer that had any sort of meaning?

Nick sat there for several hours, taking what small comfort he could in his rabbit's presence. Eventually, his mind began to stir, sluggishly as he began to finally process what had happened.

His worst enemy in life was a Hopps. The mammal who was courting him, whom he was waiting for to ask if he would be her mate, was a Hopps. Karma wasn't the Celestial Bitch, Life was. It was funny actually. He began to laugh and cry.

Judy looked up at him, confused and more than a little worried.

"Nick?"

"Think about it. The mammals whose courting me, is a Hopps, and the mammal who's...who's...hell bent on destroying me...is a Hopps."

He stopped for a moment to look down at Judy.

"You're a Hopps…"

The implication hurt. That he would for even a moment consider that she had been in on this. It hurt, her mother, her real mother, Tracy had been right. True love can hurt.

"Nick…I honestly don't know what to say to that. Other than the fact that you can consider that I would be in on this, after the last five months, hurts. I honestly don't think the name Hopps is for me, not after this…"

The fox lowered his head. How could he have thought that? Of the mammal with whom he had shared his darkest secrets, who had responded in kind?

"I'm sorry Judy, for what little it means. This...It hurts."

"I don't think I can imagine, honestly."

The two mammals nuzzled back into each other after that. It was Nick who spoke first.

"Throughout all this, I don't think we've ever asked what we want out of life…"

Judy hummed softly in reply, "What _do_ you want out of life?"

"To be left alone...for the pain and the blood to stop," He looked down again. "To have a mate to love. You?"

"To make the world a better place."

"That's it?"

"Well, that and a particular fox at my side as I do It."

Nick sighed, "I don't know. What does making the world a better place entail?"

"You're going to hate it…"

"That means you should _definitely_ tell me."

Judy sighed. She had been told her family was evil, she had even seen it, or parts of it. Simply put it had to end.

"I think it's time my family's reign of terror came to an end, starting with that bastard Harold."

To say Nick hated that Idea was a bit an of an understatement.

=8=

AN: This wasn't an easy chapter to write. I've finally started the ball rolling, hopefully, you can bare with me as I take my time this. The biggest things I'm concerned about when I write this are pacing and plot. I have a general vision of where I want this go but not much beyond that, but I'll get there eventually. For now, thank you's are in order. This story has 3,600 views, 52 follows, 31 favorites and, 32 reviews. Thank you, all of you, for taking your time of day to read this, and review it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years, folks!


	8. Chapter V

_Disclaimer I: Zootopia and its characters are owned by their wonderful creators at Disney, this is a fanfiction meant to be entirely non-profit._

 _Disclaimer II: There will be blood and violence in this story._

 _Disclaimer III: Dark themes and a general trigger warning, marked *=8=*_

=8=

"What does making the world a better place entail?"

"You're going to hate it…"

"That means you should definitely tell me."

Judy sighed. She had been told her family was evil, she had even seen it, or parts of it. Simply put it had to end. "I think it's time my family's reign of terror came to an end, starting with that bastard Harold."

To say Nick hated that Idea was a bit of an understatement.

"You do realize there are a few flaws with that plan right?"

"Like?"

"How are you going to take on the largest and most ruthless mafia in the New World with just two other mammals to help?"

Judy scoffed at that. "I know we'll need more help but-"

"But what, Judy? There are so many different ways this can go wrong it's not even funny… Have you even considered what is necessary to do that? Take a look Judy, that's one of them taking revenge for something that happened eleven years ago, his rage is nice and cold. Do we really want to test what's going to happen when, how many was it? Nearly a thousand living in that manor? No, I don't think they'd all be rotten, but I'd bet most would be, so let's go with nine hundred. Eight hundred mammals all of whom will be similar to Harold coming after us with nice and brightly burning rage… This would be a paradise compared to what would follow!" Nick pointed towards what had been his family's ranch.

"And let's say we do take your family down, and they're all and I mean all, because if one gets away they won't rest, not after the rest of their family is dead or in prison, then what? Who or what takes your family's place? That's a hell of power vacancy there, Judy." Nick had stood up from where he had been slumped over and been pacing, gesturing wildly, while he ranted against Judy's idea. At the end of it all, he simply sat back down next to her and sighed.

"You're going to do it anyway aren't you?" Judy nodded her head in reply, Nick, in turn, looked to Fangmeyer who simply held up his paws in a 'don't drag me into this' gesture.

Nick sighed again and simply grabbed and held Judy close to him. The gesture surprised Judy though she didn't mind it and after making herself comfortable in her foxes grasp, looked up at him. And saw both resignation and determination in his eyes as he looked down at her, emerald meeting violet.

"I'm going to need a badge if we go after your family, though you already knew I was going to say that didn't you?"

Judy nodded again. "It's pretty clear you don't like this-" she was interrupted by a snort of Nick's, "But, this is necessary. Evil triumphs when good mammals do nothing. Saying both of us have been wronged or harmed by the Hopps family is like saying the ocean is big. An understatement that's rather obvious," the two chuckled a bit at that, even though there was no reason to, "We have an opportunity, the Hopps…mob is only going to get stronger if we just let them lie. I didn't become a Marshall because I wanted the easy path through life, I know you didn't either. Besides it only looks so hopeless because we're looking at all this from the bottom of the pit, it can't get worse from here, right?"

Nick simply sat and listened to her, tilting his head sideways, fitting his muzzle between her ears and looking down at her with one eye, huffing when she was done.

"No, it can still get worse from here… Doing this means losing you is a very real possibility." He kept going despite the tears that had started to form in Judy's eyes. "That said if I have learned anything about you in the past five months it's that you are very determined. So as far as I can tell the best way for me to not lose you is to help you." He chuckled a bit and looked up at the setting sun. It was fitting, he supposed, it was like watching what was a very firm end to a part of his life in addition to speaking the words.

"I never imagined I would put the badge back on after meeting a rabbit who I found to be so amazing that I couldn't imagine life without her." An emerald looked back down to meet two amethysts. "I love you, Judy."

"I love you too, Nick." It was somewhat amazing to her. She hadn't cried in seven years, she'd had no reason too. Then she met a fox who could turn on the waterworks with little to no effort.

"You've been making me cry far too much these last months."

"It's not my fault you're an emotional bunny, besides would you have it any other way?" He earned himself a light swat and a shake of the head no in return.

The two mammals heard a low whistle and looked over to see Fangmeyer waving for them to come over. They got up walked over and promptly returned to their previous position, with Nicks muzzle between Judy's ears and her back pressed into his chest. Fangmeyer said nothing for a time and simply slid two plates of warmed up rations over. For a time the noises to be heard were crickets, the crackling of a fire, and three mammals eating. The three set up a guard rotation and went to sleep, with Fangmeyer taking the middle shift. The tiger figured it was the least he could do for the two smaller mammals.

=8=

"So, how are we going to do this?"

It was Judy who had asked the question, despite the sleep still clouding her companion's eyes.

"Give us a couple of minutes to wake up and get some coffee Judy, you have too much energy for this time of morning." Nick shook his head wearily.

"What are you talking about? The two of you got up before I did every day at the saloon, what happened to that?"

Fangmeyer chuckled, "That was because we didn't have to stand guard, we had good beds, and good food to wake up to. Not cold hard ground and rations that taste like they were made out of a garbage heap someone crawled into to die in." This time Nick chuckled, he didn't mind the ground, but Fangmeyer was right about the rations… And Judy's coffee could definitely use some work.

"I've heard you complain about my coffee before, but I've never heard you complain about any rations."

"That's because they are truly awful, actually they're worse than your coffee… For once. Isn't that right Nick?" Nick's head shot up from his focus on rolling up his bedroll. For the first time in the six months that he had been companions with the two he sensed danger. It didn't take him long to out why either, Judy had come over and was hanging on his shoulder while he was kneeling, with a grin and look in her eyes that conveyed a very obvious message, 'choose your next words carefully'.

"Is that right Nick?"

Nick turned slightly and shot a death glare at Fangmeyer, before turning back to his bunny.

"You can test the rations yourself."

"What about my coffee?"

"What about your coffee, my dear and supremely lovely Carrots?" Judy simply gave him a look that made it clear flattery and honeyed words weren't going to help, while Fangmeyer was making whipping motions that Nick could see out of the corner of his eye.

"Is it as bad as a soon to be beaten tiger is saying it is?" Fangmeyer stopped with the whipping motions and began to do his best to look as pathetic as possible in an attempt to avoid the aforementioned beating.

"I think your coffee is fine," Judy nodded her head and started to walk away when Nick added, "Though I wouldn't mind making it in the future" causing Judy to turn back around and cock her head in a very canine manner that she picked up from Nick.

"And why's that?"

Nick played it cool and shrugged, going back to packing his equipment up. "I just know how I like my coffee better is all, not that I blame you, you haven't exactly had many opportunities to learn how I like my coffee after all."

"Okay."

Nick took care to slowly let out the breath he had been holding in as Judy turned her attention to a rather nervous tiger.

"Rations." Judy had walked up to the feline and held her paw out in a clear demand, causing Nick and Fangmeyer to give pause and gave each other a concerned look before turning back to her with the two predators speaking at the same time.

"You don't want to do that."

The simultaneous speech startled her a bit as she looked between the two and saw the concern on their faces. "Why not?"

Fangmeyer rolled his head from side to side as he tried to think of a good comparison, but, Nick beat him to it.

"If I was starving to death and had to choose between bark or prairie grass and the rations I'd take either the bark or grass."

Judy had been watching Fangmeyer when Nick had spoken and looked over at the fox.

"You can't be serious…"

"Try them at your own risk if you don't believe me."

She sat there for a bit as a result, nose twitching as she thought over. In the end, she held her paw up again, "Rations."

Fangmeyer tilted his head and sighed in resignation and gave her a fresh bit of a ration similar to what he had been eating that didn't need to be cooked. Judy had to admit its appearance did not inspire confidence in her concerning the flavor. The texture even less so. It was a sickly gray and felt like a brick. She bit into and discovered it was about as hard as one as well. The two predators watched with both amusement and sympathy as Judy's face quickly morphed into one of absolute disgust. She actually wound up choking on a bit of the ration as it went down, causing Nick to quickly get up to try and help and Fangmeyer to slap her back as hard he felt he could without seriously hurting the little bunny. Fangmeyer's pat did dislodge the bit of ration she had been choking on, however, it also caused her to lose hold of the bigger piece, which went flying. The bigger piece of the ration after going up and coming back down landed in the fire, which quickly flared up and changed from a warm, happy orange, to an angry green.

The three of them stopped and simply stared at the fire for a bit before Nick finally asked, "Are we absolutely positive that those are rations?"

Judy and Fangmeyer shook their heads no in response. Judy quickly looked away and began packing her gear up as she was only who had yet to so. Nick and Fangmeyer, however, were both desperately trying to keep their meals down, as the smell produced by the ration being thrown in the fire was actually worse than the taste somehow. As a result, Nick walked off a ways, when he realized that his family weren't where they had been when the group had come across them. He looked around and saw the saw eight crosses in a neat row, and walked over.

The graves were rather ambiguous being roughly the same size with no names carved onto the crosses. Nick guessed that Fangmeyer had dug the graves, there was a shovel there, though it was charred to all hell. He didn't know for sure, which wasn't surprising. He remembered his talk with Judy about how insane it was to go after the Hopps family and the support she had shown him simply by being near. That all accounted for two or three hours. The rest of the day was a searing fuzzy pain. The weight had hit him yesterday, but Nick hadn't cried. He didn't know if he was just numb or if he been desensitized to death after being around it so much. He hoped it was the former with a desperate passion.

Even though he wasn't much of a religious mammal he thought of and whispered a prayer for the eight mammals who couldn't even receive decent burials because of a grudge held against him. He stayed for another five minutes before standing up and heading back over to Judy and Fangmeyer who were both waiting for him.

"I take it we're heading to town," Nick asked as he strapped on his vest and pack.

"Yeah. We figured we could replace the 'Rations', and get away from the ranch." Fangmeyer answered as Judy walked over to help Nick his gear as was standard.

"So what can we expect out of Alparaiso," Judy asked as she tightened a strap that Nick had missed. Nick shrugged.

"Well, it's your typical trade hub. Several saloons, a telegraph office, bank, Iron Horse. Only thing that really stands out in my mind was the Sheriff. I don't remember much I only went there one time and that was four years ago."

"Why was your meeting the Sheriff the most memorable thing about the town?"

Nick looked over at Judy, who was prepared to begin fuming. Her foot was thumping, her brows were furrowed, her ears were standing straight up, and she had her hip out to one side with her head angled to the other. On any other mammal it would have been adorable, but on Judy, it was terrifying.

He raised his paws to placate the winter mammals, almost exclusively coming from the eastern cities like Zootopia and New Yak, had made stops in the town. For some reason, they preferred the half day they saved going by coaches pulled by larger and well-paid mammals. So they would stop at the saloon Nick, Judy, and Fangmeyer had been staying at, would see Nick and Judy together or just see Nick and make assumptions.

Eventually, the owner of the place had carved out two signs. 'Beware the Bunny' and 'Don't mock the Fox' all to the locals amusement who had come to go there for whatever nightly entertainment the two small mammals would provide.

Nick raised his paws to start to placate Judy. She would be damned if she was going to let some jackass of a Sheriff demean him, but before she could start her avalanche of questions she felt a paw over her mouth. She followed the arm it was a part of to find herself looking into Nick's eyes. After a few seconds she pulled his arm down and huffed, and glared much to his amusement.

"He's not a bad mammal, Judy. Now that I'm thinking about him, I feel bad for not remembering his name. He's...eccentric, but very few mammals come to mind who are nicer."

"Okay," Judy relaxed a bit causing Nick to do so as well. "What do you mean by eccentric, though?"

Nick just grinned, both at her and Fangmeyer. "Oh, you'll just have to find out." With that he simply turned around and started walking, much to Judy's annoyance. At least he was in a better mood.

=8=

It took them a little over three days to get to Alparaiso at the pace Nick set. During those three days, Nick's mood was downright playful. It was strange to Fangmeyer and Judy, considering the scene from hell they had seen. Judy figured it was just part of how he was coping, but she didn't think that counted entirely for why he was so cheerful considering the task she had before them, and how he had reacted to it. The doe made a mental note to keep an eye on her fox, regardless.

Upon arriving at the edge of the town mid-morning the three had split up. With Fangmeyer and Nick sharing the tasks of replenishing and replacing supplies as well as visiting the Sheriff. Fangmeyer carrying everything and Nick supervising. Judy had gone to get their rooms. It had actually gone rather well.

The raccoon manning the bar had raised an eyebrow at the rooming arrangement she had requested but not said a thing beyond asking for Nick's species and gender. To her surprise there weren't any mammals who were bothered to say anything. Not that she was complaining, it wasn't their business, but it had gone better than expected. Nick had been right, the mammals east of the Mizzo River really were far more uptight than those in the west.

It was another half hour before Nick and Fangmeyer got done, and while she had known they had also gone to talk to the Sheriff she hadn't expected them to bring the Sheriff back.

She had also not expected the Sheriff to be a somewhat portly cheetah. Who upon seeing her, turned to both Fangmeyer and Nick, yelled, "You really weren't kidding!" then turned back to her. He then started hopping from hindpaw to hindpaw and emitted a squeal of delight that likely would have been far louder had he not stuffed his mouth with his paws.

Fangmeyer was trying not laugh and Nick simply raised his eyebrows and gave Judy a look that said, 'I told you so'. Before she could respond the cheetah had crossed the room and was fervently shaking her paw, absolutely gushing all the while.

"OMGOODNESSIHEARDTHATABUNNYBYTHENAMEOFJUDYHOPPSHADBECOMEAMAR-SHALLBUTICOULDNTTELLWHETHERORNOTTHENEWSWASREALBECAUSETHEMARSH-ALLWHOTOLDLIKESTOLIEANDEXAGERATETHINGS-"

The...eccentric was interrupted by Judy who, not knowing the cheetahs had to look at his badge. Which was a problem in and of itself as the Sheriff was shaking her paw so hard he was almost pulling her out seat.

"Uhh, Clawhauser...Sheriff...SHERIFF CLAWHAUSER." The shaking stopped and the cheetah, ClaWhauser, looked at her slightly abashed.

"Thank you, it's just, the shaking was a bit much…"

"...oh...can I hug you?" His request caught Judy off-guard a bit, but she nodded yes anyways. So he leaned in, hugged her, and let go. It was surprising really, she barely even felt it.

Clawhauser than had a sheepish grin on his face, "I'm sorry if I went overboard, It's just not everyday I get to meet a Marshall. Especially one who's been so...Nebulous? I guess? Though I do have to apologize since I hugged your courted when I met him," He shoot an apologetic look over towards Nick. "...and I think I heard something crack."

Judy in turn leaned past Clawhauser to look at Nick who just offered her grin.

"Yeah, he cracked my back, beyond the first five minutes I feel better now than I did before hand. Though I do wonder if you were born as the wrong species Spots, that hud was worthy of a bear." Clawhauser rubbed the back of his neck somewhat worriedly at that, but relaxed when Judy gave him a smile.

"He's making jokes, he's fine. Besides I don't think it was intentional." She gestured to the chairs around the room. "Why are you all standing, this going to take some time."

At that everyone sat down, and by way of Sheriff Clawhauser's recommendations, they sent for lunch. Not long after that the cheetah got everyone there to call him Ben, which resulted in him nodding his head in satisfaction. The group of Marshall's quickly learned that, as long as you weren't a criminal Ben was possibly the friendliest mammal on the Frontier. It wasn't long before lunch arrived, shortly after they got down to the relatively simple business of trying to dismantle one of the largest Mafia's in the New World.

"Well now that we getting down to business, why are you three here?"

"We're tracking Harold Hopps, who has now added several charges of murder to list of crimes." Nick's answer took Ben by surprise, he'd heard about Harold, and he'd also heard about Nick. He also knew Harold had escaped from prison.

"Really? Where? Who?" Ben immediately took note of Nick's fallen expression.

"My Aunt and Uncle's ranch. Everyone on it. Fangmeyer did what he could to give them...what was left of them...a decent burial."

Ben's expression fell at that as well. He'd not known the Wilde's well, but had known they were good folk.

"I'm sorry."

"...I appreciate the thought, but don't be, you're not the monster who murdered them...You can help catch us catch him though."

Ben nodded at that, more than eager to help as was his nature. "What do you need?"

"The different Sheriff's offices keep track of the various Tribes right?" Nick continued rather hopefully at Ben's affirmative nod.

"So you know, roughly, where the Coyotes are currently?"

"Yes, um, near Pine Falls, I think the message said they'd be staying for...I want to say another two weeks? Though I have to ask, Is there anyway this might come back around? I want to be prepared for anything Harold, or by extension, his family might try."

Fox, rabbit, and tiger looked at each other, they hadn't considered that, but it didn't take long until Judy came up with a solution.

"You have wanted posters, right? We could take some of those, say we never saw the Ranch. Nick wasn't there often enough, that anyone who wasn't extremely close with the family might believe that he rather ostracized... beyond that...we don't know Ben. Though I don't think they will. Alparaiso's a fairly big town, with an armory and a militia, right?"

Again Ben nodded.

"That type of action is rather overt. To the point that the Senators and Governors wouldn't be able to simply ignore them anymore. 'Out of sight, out of mind', is far better philosophy for them to have currently." Everyone agreed with that, when Fangmeyer asked a question.

"Why do you want to talk to the Coyotes, Nick?"

"I have a friend amongst them. He's fantastic tracker, better than any of us, that much I know for a fact. We shouldn't chase Harold yet. But we should be prepared for it, as well chasing other members of the Hopps family. Harold wants a personal war and a vendetta which suits him perfectly right now. We have no idea where he is, or any accurate indication of where he is headed since his trail is cold. Nor do we have any idea how many mammals he has with him and what they are armed with. So it's more for preparation sake than anything else."

Judy now cocked her head at Nick. "So how do you want to do this?"

"Well, we'll need more than a single tracker to help us to begin with…" Nick chuckled.

"Honestly, I would love if we could get the entirety of the Marshalls to help us, but I don't think that's a good idea. It's too visible. What's their biggest source of income?"

Judy hummed before answering. "This might have changed over the years but illegal substances like Night Howlers, any sort of mixed Peyote. That and the meat trade, but that's on the East of the river, why?"

"Well that makes this a lot easier. The tribes have tried to deal with that trade in the past. They see it as a perversion of what Peyote is supposed to do, which is assist you in finding yourself. However the government always shut them down. And the Marshalls in area never worked with them, which makes me think that the Marshalls in those areas are in bed with the Hopps."

These were the types of things no one liked to think about, Marshalls lining their pockets with money from the worst mafia in the hemisphere.

"This is going to be messy isn't it?" Judy asked.

Nick nodded solemnly, "Extremely so, I'm afraid. But it's either this or we just let them lie and let them continue hurting mammals."

=8=

 _A/N: This chapter was a pain in the ass to write. I had some writer's block, but beyond that... I dunno, this chapter just didn't feel fun to write, but I'm looking forward to writing more for 'Wilde West'. I feel like I should address this now, I am basing the Tribes off of the Native Americans. BASING, the tribes are not carbon copies, nor is that the intent. I don't intend to have Zootopia's government treat the Tribes the way the US government did the Native Americans. Feel free to ask why if you want and I'll DM you. That said I checked my email on the Sixth(which is my Bday) to see an inbox full of Favs and Follows. Thank you each and everyone of you. And to that extent LOOK at that awesome cover art. LOOK. AT. IT._

 _ **It's not mine.**_

 _I wish I could draw like that but I can't. TheWyvernsWeaver over on DA can draw like that. And you should totally go check him out as he is a fantastic artist and the one who drew the new cover art. Once again thank you all, and have a good one folks._


	9. Chapter VI

_Disclaimer I:Zootopia and it's characters belong to the wonderful people over at Disney. This is fanfiction meant to be entirely non-profit._

 _Disclaimer II:There is graphic violence in this story._

=8=

Nick, Judy, Fangmeyer, and Clawhauser spent another couple of hours talking and telling stories, doing their best to relax. It was likely to be the last time they could for a good while. Fangmeyer and Clawhauser did a good portion of the talking, with Fangmeyer relaying one after another of his drunken 'exploits' and Clawhauser telling stories that had a vast range. Though most of the time he spent talking consisted of the bulky cheetah gushing over various treats and pastries. Nick for the most contributed by way of snarky comments, and typically would avoid anything concerning his past.

Judy on the other paw had started to get anxious after the first thirty minutes. She understood Fangmeyer's need to relax, the tiger had done so much recently for both her and Nick. Clawhauser was also understandable as it wasn't likely he often had other law enforcers to talk to. She couldn't begrudge the large cheetah anyways, he was so damn personable. Nick was easy to understand as well. The poor fox had been up and down so many emotional hills recently.

And despite the fact that Nick had part and parcel of her life for the past five months, he still managed to surprise her. It hadn't taken him long to notice how antsy she was getting, come over, and pull her into his side. For a moment she simply froze. When they had first started courting, her fox had been rather fickle about any sort of public displays. Despite the fact that he had even acknowledged that the attitude on the frontier was essentially 'Live and let live', he still had fears of public rejection.

Now he was basically cuddling with her, with two other mammals in the room. Then she noticed his tail. Despite the carefree mask he was using to deal with Clawhauser's scream of how cute they were, his tail was stiff as stone. He was a master of his controlling what emotions he showed and what emotions he didn't. Now he was full-on cuddling with her in public, for the sole reason of just trying to help her relax. She relaxed and smiled up at him, which in turn helped _him_ to relax.

After those four hours, the feline sheriff retired from the room. The reason Clawhauser had left being he had felt like he was starting to neglect his town, after having been so much of a public face it was almost instinct for him to be visible. Fangmeyer stayed however, he knew that Judy and Nick would both want to talk further. It had been an interesting five months, now it was bound to be even more interesting. He had known about the Hopps mob, which was why he was surprised when Judy had shown up with a badge. And at first, he had thought it was a trick to get an inside mammal. He was quickly corrected though. Every time her family was mentioned Judy's face became stoic and unreadable. The big tiger could easily and honestly say he loved his family, and couldn't imagine having the Hopps around him growing up. Judy had never talked to him about it, and Fangmeyer doubted she ever would. He broke himself from his thoughts, tired he might be but the three of them still had some planning to do. The reason Clawhauser had left was he had felt like he was starting to neglect his town, after having been a public face so much it was a habit.

He was broken from his thoughts by Nick asking a question that the big cat missed.

"I'm sorry?"

"I was asking if you're ok. You seem pretty out of it." Nick was obviously concerned which didn't surprise Fangmeyer. The fox was a very caring mammal, he just rarely showed it to anyone outside of his friends or any children.

"I'm fine, just a bit tired, so how about we move this along so I can get some sleep?" The big tiger offered a tired grin at that. The two smaller mammals nodded and offered some small grin's of their own, which prompted Fangmeyer to ask the first question.

"So, what's your full plan Nick because I'm sure what you've told us so far isn't the full extent of it."

Nick grimaced a bit that, "I appreciate your faith but I don't have as full a plan as you seem to think I do. Yes, I do intend to go to the Tribes, but not just because we could use Jerome's help. We could also use the full Tribes help. The problem is I have no idea how we can repay them. And they _will_ expect something back. They've been using the barter system for as long as they can remember. A favor like this has to be earned or traded for."

"What do they think of as 'fair trade'?" Judy asked, somewhat concerned. She had dealt with con-mammals in the past, while some were rather harmless others could downright malicious. If she were being honest, however, the so-called 'duke of bootleg' had actually been pretty amusing, even though she had no idea what boot-leg even was. She had also dealt with Tribes Mammals in the past and while they had been very level-headed, she had never traded with them. Which meant she had no idea how they would react. And hearing that they would want something in return made her worry. A group of three Marshalls wasn't one you would look to for wealth.

Nick smirked and was about to answer but Fangmeyer beat him to it.

"A typical Tribes mammal trade consists you giving them both your soul and your firstborn child."

Judy simply gave Fangmeyer one of her looks that substituted swearing and was about to scold him when she noticed her fox giving her a look of his own.

"I don't know whether to coo over how adorable your angry face is, or be very, very afraid." He was struggling to hold in a laugh. Judy simply gave him a solid blow to his shoulder as his answer before sighing in exasperation.

"A serious answer would be _greatly_ appreciated. We don't exactly have all the time in the world, every minute we waste in another minute mammals are hurt."

The fox and tiger exchanged a look at Judy's rather serious tone, and Nick sighed, his cheer diminishing rather quickly.

"Carrots, Judy, _all_ of us can afford to relax a bit, hell Fangmeyer downright deserves it." He smirked a bit as an example came to mind. "If we were tasked with some sort of crazy case where we had two days to figure out why mammals going insane or something equally ridiculous than I'd be with you. But we _don't_ have something like that going on. If we're not at our best, it increases the likelihood that we're killed. Taking down a gang that controls half the New World isn't something that's done and over with in a short amount of time. That said fair trades to the tribes are probably the best deals in the New World. Mostly because they know what they want and if you're believed to be an honest mammal they'll tell you. I can't tell you what exactly they'll want, but I don't think it'll be too outrageous."

Judy relaxed a bit at that. "As long as we aren't going to have to sprint about half the continent trying to put together what they would consider a fair trade."

Nick and Fangmeyer chuckled at that. Now that they were thinking about it both the fox and tiger were definitely hoping that Judy's scenario wasn't going to be the norm for this. There was no way in hell they were going to get through all this without getting more help. Fangmeyer spoke up after that.

"So we get to the tribes, and hopefully get them to help us. What then? Are we going to try to dismantle everything the Hopps have on this side of the Mizzo? If those holdings amount to anything more than a couple of trading posts we might not even get to the other side of the River this year. Is that really a risk we want to take?"

To the big cat's surprise, it was Judy who nodded and confirmed his question. "It is. If the Hopps have less income it'll mean they won't have _as many_ resources to work with when we eventually get to their side of the river. That," Judy paused for a bit to give Nick a pointed look. "and the raids will likely make good bait for Harold."

Nick just gave Judy a slight smirk and nodded in agreement, she wasn't wrong after all and Nick didn't want a repeat of the first time he and other Marshalls had given Chase to Harold. After which Fangmeyer brought up another concern.

"What about when we do eventually cross the River?"

Nick grimaced a bit at that. "Honestly, I don't think we should try to plan that far ahead. There's simply too much that can happen between now and then. We could fail completely. We could find something that completely changes how we go about this. We could plan and get so worried about _that_ we screw up what we're doing now."

Both Fangmeyer and Judy saw the sense in that. Their current plan could take anywhere between two months to the rest of the year. It all depended on well they did and how large the Hopps' holdings were. And if their luck so far was anything to go by so far, it was likely to be the later.

"Does that cover the big stuff? There's obviously supply issues and such but I think we can work those out individually." Fangmeyer asked.

"Everything I can think of, and yes, we will cover the supply issues individually because I, personally, don't trust you with buying food for _me_ anymore." Nick's statement got Judy to chuckle and Fangmeyer simply rolled his eyes before standing.

"Well, with everything that we think can of taken care of, or least addressed, I'm going to sleep. Don't stay up too late Lovebirds." The big cat made his way out of the room, as Judy's ears stood at attention and flushed. Nick just took it in stride, shrugged, and looked at his rabbit. Once again she simply looked absolutely adorable, but judging from the glare he had received earlier, he figured not saying anything was the better course of action. At least on her being adorable, as she looked slightly perturbed by something.

"Is there something you want to talk about?"

"Hmm? How did you… You said that foxes are matriarchal, right?"

"Yes…Why?" Nick had a feeling that he knew where this was going but he wanted to be sure.

"Well, I was wondering if you would be okay with me taking your name."

Nick cocked his head in a canine manner at that. "Why would I have a problem with that? The Hopps name isn't one to be proud of. Is it unusual for me? Yes, extremely so, but I dare say we're both unusual mammals. That said, if you're going to take my name you're going to propose," Judy opened her mouth and started to speak when Nick's paw stopped her.

"You're going to propose properly." He had a loving but firm look on his face.

"Why?" The question came in the same tone as a kit asking seemingly innocent question complete with large innocent eyes, which caused Nick to simply smile back at her. "Indulge me, please?"

Judy gave an exaggerated sigh while rolling her eyes, trying to look like she was annoyed. "Fine, I guess I will."

The two sat there giving each other looks for a moment before chuckling lightly. Nick got up shortly after that and carried Judy with him, much to her confusion and amusement. "Where are you taking me, oh sweet gentle fox?"

He growled in a playful tone that said 'Don't make fun of your fox' before answering. "Bed, _to sleep_ , we've got a long trip ahead of us, and I intend on getting a good night's sleep on a real bed."

=8=

Sleep had come easily for Nick and Judy thanks to the presence of the other. Waking had been a royal pain in the ass. Nick was fond of his coffee often drinking three cups or even a full pot. Today the two of them had gone through what totaled to be three and a half pots. Fangmeyer had his pot due to the size difference and gone through two of his own, causing Nick and Judy to give the big cat a questioning look to which the tiger had simply pointed at the game tables to their left. The two left the tiger alone after that. Apparently, Fangmeyer hadn't been able to resist the siren's call, but he had bought breakfast for the group so he clearly hadn't wasted all of his money.

The three spent an hour eating breakfast and drinking coffee before finally leaving. The first place they headed was the Sheriff's office. Upon arriving they found Clawhauser wide awake, with a bright smile already shining.

"You know Carrots I think we should work on your smile. You're already cute, if we can get you to smile like Clawhauser there's a good chance we can just charm any criminals we come across into surrendering." Judy looked over at Nick to see the fox wearing a grin that was positively shit-eating and gave him her reply in the form of a sharp elbow between his ribs that was anything but gentle.

Fangmeyer simply smiled at the antics of his smaller companions before turning to Clawhauser. "How is it that you're so chipper this early in the morning?"

"Simple," the spotted cat smiled. "I wake up in the morning, tell myself today is going to be a good day, and I believe it."

Nick's response was exactly what Fangmeyer and Judy were thinking. "Blasphemy, how many cups?"

"Six."

The three nodded at that with grins on their muzzles and Clawhauser reached inside the door to his office to grab a couple of items. When his paw reappeared after a couple of seconds he held two items. The first was a piece of paper that was presumably a report and wanted sheet on Harold. The second was a mound of metal with several portions cut out.

It was a Marshalls star.

Clawhauser handed the first to Judy and the second to Nick. Judy quickly packed away the paper after taking a quick look at it. Both her and Fangmeyer were looking at Nick who was simply holding the star staring at it.

His voice was filled with nostalgia and wonder when he eventually spoke, slowly turning the shining metal star over in his paw, "Never thought I'd have another one of these with my name on it…"

He stopped turning it over in his paw and unceremoniously dropped it in the dirt at his hind paws. Despite the looks the other three law officers were giving him, he continued with what he was doing, rubbing dirt all over the badge. It only took him about a minute to get the badge to where he was happy. "Don't give me those looks, it was too damn shiny, and I'm not going to wear a target over my heart."

The three other law mammals shrugged with Judy recalling how he had pointed out how brilliant her badge had been and why it was a bad thing for the same reason he had just stated. With that, the four law mammals said their goodbyes after that, with Fangmeyer having a particularly rough time peeling an unhappy cheetah off himself.

They set and maintained a steady 'Marshalls lope', one that quickly ate up the miles between them and the Tribe who they had to meet, lest the loose plan they had formed go bust. It didn't take long for the group to arrive in Pine Falls.

It wasn't much of a town, getting its name from the rapids and small waterfalls that the loggers up in the mountains used to get the wood they cut to lower elevations. The group stopped just long to resupply and eat a warm meal before continuing on.

"So how are we going to find the Tribe?" The question came from Judy and caused Nick to smirk.

"We won't find them, they'll find us. Hell, I'd be surprised if they didn't have at least one scout watching us right now. And to answer your question, my dear Judy, they'll want to talk with us because we're Marshalls. Excluding the ones bought and paid for by the Hopps, and they'll know the ones who are, the Marshalls and the Tribes have long maintained a healthy relationship."

"Okay, but _why_ can't you find them?" Judy just got a chuckle in response to that.

After another seven hundred meters that were really about two hundred meters as the crow flew, Nick called a halt and looked about the small clearing before nodding. "This'll do. I'll get a fire for dinner and coffee going if you two'll make this little site comfortable."

"Why here?"Nick turned to Fangmeyer and pointed at one of the nearby trees.

"See that bundle of feathers? That wouldn't be there if the tribe we're looking for wasn't nearby. We'll be here for a couple of hours I suspect and then they'll have one of their scouts come fetch us."

Fangmeyer and Judy shrugged at that and began doing as Nick had suggested. Within the hour the three were comfortable with coffee served and dinner on the way. Dinner consisted of dried fruit and turkey mixed a couple of spices. It wasn't a gourmet meal but it was filling and warm. Just as Nick predicted a scout had come around after a couple of hours.

The scout had made her presence known by mimicking a bird. Nick couldn't remember what the name of the bird was, but he remembered the response. Shortly after Nick's whistle of a reply, a Coyote stepped into the small clearing they were in. The three Marshall's stood to greet her, giving nods of respect which were returned. The scout then faced Nick and said something in a language that sounded entirely unpronounceable to Judy and Fangmeyer's ignorant ears. Nick, on the other paw, cocked his head for a moment before making a series of rapid-fire hand gestures that the Coyote clearly understood and even found bemusement in. She replied once again in the odd tongue before Nick turned to Fangmeyer and Judy.

"Like I said, a couple of hours before a scout comes and gets us. She's here to guide us back to their camp."

With that, the three quickly packed up and were moving off the trail deeper into forest covered mountains. Judy found it somewhat amazing the differences between this forest and the one on manor she had been born on. Both forests were teeming with life. There wasn't a single moment where they weren't hearing the springtime songs of various birds. The differences came in the ground and the plants. In Zootopia the forests had been various shades of brown and green, graceful in their beauty as the seasons changed. Here on the Frontier, the forests were still brown and green but different shades of it. Here the beauty didn't come from gracefulness but from the hardiness of the forest.

It took the small party several hours to get to the Tribes Mammals camp. The closer they got the more Judy noticed Nick looking around, swiveling his ears too and fro. He didn't seem nervous, just… more alert. Poking Fangmeyer in the leg she pointed at Nick with a quizzical expression and saw that Fangmeyer had noticed it as well. It became much much clearer when another coyote tackled Nick. A wrestling match immediately ensued, Judy would have interfered if not the grins both canines were wearing on their muzzles. It was actually kind of amazing, for as much the two were thrashing about they were almost completely silent. One would begin to gain the advantage when the other would apply pressure or attack a different point, negating any advantage the other was gaining. After about three minutes the coyote managed pinned Nick and had a huge grin on his face.

"Looks like I finally managed to win."

Nick's reply came in the form of his own positively shit-eating grin and a reversal so fast it made the three spectator's heads spin. "Maybe you should wait until I actually concede to relax next time."

"Let me up." The coyote's tone was playfully sour.

"Do you concede?" Nick on the other was cheekily maintaining both his grin and pin.

"Just let me up."

Nick cocked his head now. "Jerome I'm not going to let you try to pull the exact same thing I just did."

The coyote just huffed at that, "Fine, I concede."

Nick immediately him up after that and offered a paw which was used to get up and shaken. Nick turned to Fangmeyer and Judy, and with one arm around the other canine's shoulder introduced him.

"Judy, Fangmeyer, this is Jerome, probably my best friend outside of you Carrots and the mammal who saved my life." Nick slapped the coyote's shoulder sending forward a bit into the two other Marshalls. Fangmeyer offered a light, by a tiger's standard's, paw shake, while Judy waited. After Fangmeyer was done Judy jumped up and gave the coyote a quick peck on the cheek.

"Thank you, for saving my mate's life." She then offered her paw for a shake which the coyote took while shrugging.

"I'm sure he would've done the same," Jerome then leaned in in a conspiratory manner, "though I do wonder how he managed to convince you to become his mate."

Judy smiled at that, "I convinced him, though there are times where I'm not it was worth it."

Nick gave her sad puppy eyes and pouted in return which simply caused all present to laugh. The four mammals continued joking with each other as they made their way through the last bit of forest between them and the camp. Even their seemingly stoic guide cracking a smile When they did make it to the camp introductions were made and greetings said. Fangmeyer and Judy were welcomed with open arms thanks to being friends with Nick. Nick was given a warm welcome back, causing the fox to smile. He had always felt welcome and at home amongst this clan of Coyotes, now he had a mate and friend to share it with.

After a time Nick pulled Jerome aside taking on a serious expression. "I need to talk to the council, not as Nick, but as Marshall Wilde."

Jerome started a bit at that and then noticed the badge on Nick's chest and became concerned for his friend. "Did she convince you to do this?"

Nick waved his head back and forth, considering his answer. "Yes and no. She helped me heal, helped me see the light outside of the Tribes that I had stopped seeing. She accepts me for who I am Jerome, every part of me. And before you ask, yes, she knows about my scars, yes, she knows about how I fight." Nick chuckled a bit at that. "Hell, if it weren't for what we were about to do and ask for help with, I'd say she was about ready to propose based on the conversation we had last night."

Jerome nodded a bit before asking another question. "Outside of her, what convinced you to take that badge back?"

"The Hopps."

The coyote froze at that, before nodding. Looking into Nick's eyes he had a decent idea concerning what the fox was going to ask of the council. Even if he was completely wrong he'd find out tonight, Jerome had been on the council for three years after all.

"You know even if the elders don't back you up, I'll be more than happy to."

Nick smiled a bit at Jerome's pledge. "All the way to the end?"

Jerome snarled a bit at that. "Don't insult me fox, of course, all the way to the end."

Nick's smile just widened at that and he lightly slapped Jerome on the shoulder. Jerome rolled his eyes at the smaller canine and the two mammals worked their way over to where Fangmeyer and Judy were. The other two Marshalls weren't hard to find thanks to Fangmeyer's height and orange fur. The big tiger was currently giving several pups a ride on his shoulders under the watchful eyes of several adult tribe members. Judy was off to the side a bit when Nick managed to make his way through the small crowd to her side and leaned against a tree with her. Judy watched as Jerome called for other members of the tribe, including the pups on Fangmeyer's shoulders, to help make accommodations for their new guests.

"Pretty amazing mammals aren't they? ...I wish I hadn't been so stubborn with accepting their help. They saved my life and offered me a place in the tribe, a place where I could heal my mind…"

Judy looked up at Nick, "Why didn't you?"

Nick simply shook his head, "I didn't feel it was the right time."

"And you did with me?" Nick nodded and smiled at Judy's question.

"Come on," the fox pushed off the tree from where he was leaning heading towards where Jerome had gone. "It's considered bad manners to not help your hosts set up your shelter."

Judy hopped along after him, "Why's that?"

"They are the one's feeding us." Nick threw over his shoulder.

"Oh, what's for dinner?"

Dinner, as Judy would find out several hours later consisted of several different vegetables and fruits as well jerky made from fish and poultry. Several herbs were available to use as spices as well. It was a good, simple dinner. The food simply added to the experience of dinner with a tribe. Laughs, jokes, and light words were plentiful, though the best part of the evening was Fangmeyer. Judy giggled as she watched several female coyotes fawn over him. He had made quite the impression earlier, and Judy wondered if anything would come of it. As she thought of that Nick got up and whispered something in the cat's ear. Whatever it was Fangmeyer's face went from holding a toothy grin to a look of shocked sobriety, and looked at Nick who just nodded once and walked away. As he sat back down next to Judy he looked back over at Fangmeyer and started snickering.

"What's so funny?" Judy asked.

"They're hanging on Fangmeyer so much because they want him as a husband… and since there's only three of them they'll be more than happy to share with each other." Nick snickered. Judy joined her fox shortly after his statement as Fangmeyer got over his shock and even seemed to like the idea.

"Are we going to talk about the Hopps tonight?"

Nick looked around a bit before shaking his head and answering, "I don't think so. It's late and everyone is about ready to sleep. Do we have coffee?"

Judy nodded even though she was confused by the sudden change in direction.

"Good, because we'll be getting up nice and early tomorrow in order to talk to the council."

"How early?"

"Crack ass of dawn."

Judy groaned at that, before standing and motioning for Nick to do the same. "Come on, I'm going to sleep, and I need a pillow."

Nick rolled his eyes at that before following her. There were times Nick wondered if Judy was just courting him for his tail.

=8=

A/N: As of right now this story has 121 followers, 86 favorites, and 38 reviews. Despite the rate at which my slow ass writes. That is absolutely amazing to me and I thank all of you. Chapter VII should be up sometime _soon_ , don't quote me on that because I'm a horrible human being. Have a Good One folks.


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer I:Zootopia and it's characters belong to the wonderful people over at Disney. This is fanfiction meant to be entirely non-profit._

 _Disclaimer II:There is graphic violence in this story._

=8=

The meeting with the Council had been a short affair. Nick and Judy had come in, presented their case and their plea for help and asked to leave. That had been it. There had been no questions asked, nor any real reaction from the Council that indicated how they felt about the two Marshalls request.

Nick was nervous because of the Council's lack of a reaction and because the meeting had concluded nearly seven hours ago. Even Jerome had been asked to leave because of his close relation to Nick and to make sure the fox didn't try to go snooping and listen in on the Council's deliberation.

He had woken up panting like a mad mammal to disperse the heat his body had generated and accumulated with his mind running like a bat out of hell. To say the dream hadn't been pleasant would be an understatement. In it, the fox had been made to endure another thrashing from a cat o nine tails then made to watch as his friends and Judy were forced to endure the same thrashing. All the while Harold, devil damn his soul, had laughed and taunted Nick from somewhere out of sight.

The dream burned at him and he had scrambled out of the tent and Judy's embrace without thought. He hadn't made it far, however, having tripped over his front paws as ran on all fours with an abandon that meant he didn't see the tree root. His panicked run had quickly come to a stop then as his head smashed against the ground and he went tumbling for a another few feet. When he woke up again he was being cradled by a concerned rabbit whose smell and eyes he remembered. He couldn't hear anything either. After shaking his head violently he found he could hear and his mind began working again.

Judy had been woken by way of being tossed in the air by Nick as the tod made an attempt to break the world record for 'fastest fox'. She had landed, immediately noticed the tent was distinctly empty and set off after her panicked fox.

When she reached him Judy had wrapped herself around Nick's head, stroking his ears and singing to try and calm him. The lullaby was one that had been taught to her by her nurse Tracy. She'd learned it on her twelfth birthday. When Nick had calmed down enough that he could talk coherently Judy asked what had gotten him in such a state. Upon hearing it was a dream she had begun chirring in his ear to help keep him calm as he worked his way through the explanation. When all was said Judy had thought that his reaction was rather mild.

Jerome had begun to come over but had stopped upon seeing Judy shake her head no. Upon seeing how Nick looked, the coyote understood enough to leave the two alone for a bit. So the two sat looking east just as the sun breached the horizon. They didn't leave until the sun became too bright to look at. As they were walking back to their tent Jerome caught up to them and let them know that the council would convene once they were ready.

Inside the tent, Judy managed to get some food and coffee inside Nick which brought the fox out of the daze he had been in. After a few minutes of actually being awake instead of the half-conscious state he'd been in, Nick was able to realise he needed to get himself sorted. Judy had already begun doing so and teased him for being a slow old fox. He thought about pointing out the fact that she was only five years older than him but decided that silence was the better part of valor. Instead, he decided to tease her with his tail, or rather the fact that it was matted and tangled and likely had drool in it that could have been the result of a certain bunny cuddling it. He stopped upon mentioning the drool because the look she gave him promised immediate death should he continue. Nick finished preparing in silence.

Now Nick, Judy, and Jerome were waiting inside the coyote's tent waiting for the council to finish in their deliberations. Judy and Jerome were relaxed, certain that the council would be more than willing to help.

"Nick, would you please stop pacing a hole into the rug? I'm going to have to replace it if you wear it down any more than you already have." Jerome asked of the obviously nervous fox.

Nick huffed before spinning about on his toes theatrically and flopping onto his side, causing Jerome to roll his eyes and Judy to giggle. He lay still for a few moments before his tail began twitching which slowly became more active until said tail was practically wagging and beating against the ground in an obvious effort to get a reaction.

"Nick if you could stop with the fanning the tent with that broom you call a tail I would appreciate it." Jerome rolled his eyes again at the fox. He didn't really mind Nick's antics as he had seen the state the fox had been in this morning but he felt obligated to tease the fox.

"You're just jealous of this beautiful thing aren't you Jerry?" Nick raised his head to look over his body at his companion who simply raised an eyebrow.

"I can't imagine being jealous of a cleaning utensil." Came the deadpan reply from the coyote.

"If you don't want to be honest with yourself that's not my problem." Nick shrugged and his tail went back to twitching every so often.

Judy found that she couldn't resist and moved closer to Nick before grabbing the fluffy appendage and wrapping it around herself. The top half of Judy's head and her ears were peeking above Nick's tail which looked like a fluffy wicker basket as it was wrapped around the rabbit. Judy made the mistake of leaving the tip of his tail near her nose however and Nick was quick to capitalize off of that mistake. He began teasing Judy's nose causing it to wiggle and Judy herself struggle to free a paw to bat away the offense. The scene was too much for Jerome who began laughing so hard that he actually fell over. The two Marshalls looked over at the Coyote and paused briefly before resuming their paw _v._ tail battle.

The battle continued for another minute or so until Judy caught the offender and began cuddling it as well, causing Nick to huff before he stood and simply wrapped his body around the rabbit. Jerome recovered from his fit of laughter only to look up, see the two Marshall's current state, and resume his laughing. Eventually, Jerome fully recovered and the three began waiting in peace again.

Judy and Nick separated themselves fairly quickly when the three were called to come back to the tent where the Council had been deliberating. Jerome didn't know why they did as the entire camp knew about the two being a couple since it really wasn't a secret. Their scents were so blended and mixed together that it was near impossible to distinguish the two if one were going by scent alone.

Walking into the Council's tent saw Nick calm down as he focused on the task at paw and Judy become nervous as she stood in front of so many mammals on display. Jerome was as cool as he could be since he felt completely at ease in this tent. He had lived amongst these mammals all his life after all.

Once the three were inside and standing together an older coyote stood in front of them and began to speak in even measured tones. "Nicholas Wilde. You came to this tribe and this Council seeking aid for a matter that does not involve this tribe nor this Council. We have talked of your request for many hours. We are willing to grant it under some conditions. You must swear that you will measure your judgement with the judgement of others and seek to return as many as possible home from this endeavor. Do you swear that?"

Nick nodded. "I do."

The coyote continued. "Your government has been asking us to settle on pieces of land unsuitable for life for years. We fear there may come a day when they force us to. Should you return alive, you must act on our behalf as a negotiator, so that we may seek to live one land which can sustain life. Do you agree?"

"I would like to propose something else. My family... The last of my family passed on and left me their ranch. Some thousand or so acres that used to be prime for turkey ranching. I'm willing to grant that land to the tribe… In exchange for a place at the tribe's hearth." Nick said.

The old coyote looked surprised before nodding. "That is agreeable. Very well, we leave the rest to your paws. Try not to take the entire tribe with you, Nicholas Wilde."

The three left with their clear dismissal. As they left Jerome simply waited for the inevitable question. If he'd been a betting mammal he would have wagered for Judy to ask first. Naturally, he was shown why he _wasn't_ a betting mammal as Nick was the one to ask the question. "That's it? I know the Council resolves quickly but they spent _seven_ hours debating and _that's_ the result? Ten minutes of conversation and some trade and we have their backing?"

Jerome simply chuckled at the two Marshall's bewilderment before responding, "You really think they were debating for seven hours? After the time you've spent with the tribe? They probably decided to help you after thirty minutes. And before you get upset they had other things to deal with, which is why it took so long for them to call us back."

Nick and Judy mulled this over for a few moments as they walked and found that it made sense. Nick still felt the need to question it, however. "Makes sense. Just feels anti-climatic is all."

There was a slight scuffle to Jerome's left which caused him to turn and see an upset rabbit holding a somewhat fearful fox by the collar and whispering into the foxes ear, " _Don't. Jinx. It._ "

As fast as she had grabbed Nick, Judy went back to being her usual happy self and even skipped past Jerome. Nick looked a little dumbstruck by both the speed at which she moved and by how she immediately acted like nothing had happened. Jerome couldn't help but laugh at his brother. The fox just raised an eyebrow at the coyote in response. "Would you want her angry at you?"

Jerome stopped laughing.

They began the task of organizing the party by gathering volunteers. Nick had thought that the Council mammal had been joking when he had asked the three to not drag the entire tribe with them. That theory was proven wrong within half an hour as they quickly had to resort to turning mammals away. Which also meant they needed to finalize the numbers of the party. Fangmeyer was not hard to find. Mostly because of the smell that seemed to permeate every surface within a five-meter radius of the tent he had snuck off to. Nick and Jerome found themselves needing to stand outside of that radius due to the sensitivity of their noses. Judy had not been happy about having to interrupt Fangmeyer's obvious activities and Nick and Jerome swore they would have been able to hear Judy's yelling from the other side of the Mizzo River. Once the big cat had reluctantly shown his face they had their final number. Forty-seven mammals would be taking on the Hopps. Forty-seven mammals against the largest crime family on the continent.

It didn't matter in the end. They were all determined to succeed and they all had the knowledge, skills, and leadership to do so. The biggest problem they faced was that of supplies. They could haul their own supplies self-sufficiently thanks to numerous, easily built travois available. Obtaining those supplies once they left the camp would be an issue, however. They could steal supplies from the various Hopps Outposts along the Western Range. That required knowledge of where those posts were, which they would hopefully find at the first post. It also required that the posts were all within two weeks travel of each other. _That_ was unlikely to happen as well, the Western Range was made of sheer granite cliffs and routes around hazards could take days to find.

The supplies were packed onto travois by way of small but sturdy cloth pouches that held anything the party would need except ammunition. That was packed into spare bandoliers and the three Marshalls eventually gave up trying to organize the ammunition with Nick swearing that every caliber used by mammals was used by the coyotes. The tribe even had six-pound artillery piece that Nick could have sworn had seen use as a hoof cannon by an elephant. They decided to take it, despite how unwieldy it might have turned out to be because as Fangmeyer had eloquently put it. "There is going to be very little that isn't solved by a bigger boom with what we're doing."

Regardless of the chaotic ammunition situation the part was prepared to move in under two hours, with two hours until dinner. They decided that there was no point in leaving immediately and so they stayed though Fangmeyer wasn't released from Judy's gaze of imminent doom until she made it clear that his tail would make a nice rug should he show up late the next morning. Despite the rabbit's warning no one was surprised to see 'sneak' back into the tent he had been found in a few hours ago.

Dinner was an extravagant affair. Judy had thought that previous night's meal had been a feast. Tonight she was learning the truth. All who had sat near her couldn't help but be both amazed and amused by the amount of food the little rabbit was packing away. Amusement turned to concern when they realised she and Nick were having an eating contest and they were _both_ packing away amounts of food that seemed to defy the laws of physics. No one was surprised when they saw the two slowly get up and slowly walk back to their tent shortly after they were done. The two Marshalls would later agree that that night was the best they had ever slept thanks to the presence of the other and the food they had gorged themselves on.

The next morning was painful with the wake-up time being well before the sun would rise. Neither of the Marshalls wanted to rise as early as they had said to, but coffee existed for a reason. Breakfast was communal due to the number of mammals leaving and was comprised of the leftovers from the previous few nights before they spoiled. Goodbyes were plentiful and tearful. Nick left slightly earlier than the rest of the group claiming that he wanted to scout for the first stint of the journey and Judy joined him. Fangmeyer had shown up when he was supposed to and between the big cat and Jerome the smaller Marshall's figured the party was in good paws to get them moving. Not long after they left Judy looked to her right and saw that Nick had water in his eyes though he had a smile on his face.

"You really like them, don't you?" She asked.

"I do. They're a wonderful people as I'm sure you've noticed. I've always felt at home there, and that's not something I could even say of the ranch." Nick said. Judy noticed that his mood was in a peaceful state so she simply nodded and left the conversation there. It was a rare moment for the tod to have peace and she would not deprive him of it.

Light had begun to shine nearly an hour ago and the sun was just beginning to slip over the horizon. And when it did Nick felt his blood cool a few degrees and his moment of peace evaporate. The sunrise was blood red with a lone cloud shaped like a scythe piercing the fiery orbs heart. He felt himself freeze for a moment before he shook his head. He refused to not believe in Omens. Between his dreams and what he believed to be conversations with Death, Omens simply weren't an impossibility. He had heard about mammals feeling their blood freeze at what they perceived to an ill tiding but now Nick knew the feeling himself. He refused to let this one deter him and pressed on, deciding to take the sun rise as a warning. One that meant to look beyond what he might normally accept.

The two Marshalls dropped back and rejoined the main group to see others in the party looking ill at ease thanks to the sunrise as well. So Nick simply ignored the feeling and acted as though the Omen in the sky was one to be laughed at. Much to his relief, it worked. The others began to relax and even make jokes. The feeling fed on itself and before long the entire group was once again in high spirits and Nick decided to start a list in his head. ' _Morale crisis on day one-averted.'_

The group soon fell into a routine as they made the week long journey towards the first outpost. Wake up, eat breakfast, scream at whoever had inevitably not woken up on time, and move out. They saw no other mammals as they made the journey but they were not concerned. The forest was as full of life as ever and not once did the birds stops singing or crickets chirping.

That changed the closer they got to their goal. By the time they _did_ reach their goal everyone had long since gone up to their hinds legs and drawn their weapons. The group paused and Judy, Nick, Jerome, and Fangmeyer crept ahead of the group. Twenty meters through the trees and fifty meters across a clearing sat the Hopps outpost. There were no birds here and likely no crickets. There was a faint smell that made all four mammals tense that they couldn't identify. The compound itself could have rivaled many military constructions in terms of fortification.

The fifty-meter clearing was mammal made and it extended around the entirety of the compound. The compound itself had a palisade that was roughly ten meters high, though it didn't look like it could have been very thick. There were also guard stations along the wall at various intervals and the whole thing was shaped like a pentagon. The scouts took their time and circled the little fort slowly and began to see weaknesses. Unless many of the mammals and facilities were underground the attackers outnumbered the defenders by nearly two to one. Many of the trees in the area varied in height but there were enough taller trees standing to call into question how sound the construction might have been.

The may problem was the fact that the outpost had a palisade. Where the only real options were to break through the gate, storm the guard towers, or break through the wall. The four were feeling quite happy they had brought the cannon until they returned. Once they did and began to inspect the travois that was supposed to have the supplies for the cannon the three Marshalls noticed a distinct lack of cannonballs. Which meant they had no choice but to get creative.

They secured their supplies and hid them somewhat further back in the woods and decided to wait for the day to see if there were any patrols or parts of the outpost's defenses that would reveal themselves come night time. Fortunately, there were none. The plan became that they would make grappling lines in order to get over the palisade and onto the guard post. From there they would fire into and storm the outpost. They would do it the next night. The idea for getting close to the wall was to take advantage of the prairie grass and the cover of darkness. The dark was a double-edged sword, however. If the predators in their group could see then so would any predators working for the Hopps. Which meant there was still a risk of being caught in the open with no cover. It was the only plan anyone in the group could think of that was viable and so it was the plan they went with.

=8=

"Nervous?" The question caught Judy off guard and she jumped a bit even though she recognized Nick's voice. She went to reply when she realised that her words were getting caught in her throat so she simply nodded yes.

Nick chuckled a bit at that. "Scared?"

Again, another nod. This time Nick nodded before he held her close for a bit and at an angle so that the limited moonlight shone off his face. He saw her eyes widen a bit and realised that his eyes likely looked as if they were glowing so he gave her smile before he spoke. "I would tell you to not be nervous, but that would be foolish seeing as how you can barely see. Stick as close to any of the other mammals here and you'll be fine. I'm going to be honest, I'm not nervous, but I can see in this light pretty damn well. You can't. I'm not stupid enough to say I'm not scared though. There are a lot of ways this can go tonight and a lot of them are not good. I know you know that. But I want to do something. Take those nerves and that fear and use it. You're a good Marshall Judy. We both know it. You've never had problems with gun fights before, so don't let the light throw you off, okay?"

Judy nodded again and found she could speak again. "Okay."

Nick gave her a quick smile before slinking off to another group of mammals to make sure they were okay. All around her preparations were being made. Mammals were checking gear, talking to each other, praying. The last activity got to her. She wished she knew a prayer, any prayer, to any god. She wasn't concerned with herself. But she felt as though she needed to pray because of her desire to not let the mammals around her down. The grapples had been made during the day by scavenging cord from the travois and were made out of whittled wood. Everyone hoped they would be strong enough to hold. A low bird call was issued and every mammal in the group fell silent. It was time.

They formed up at the edge of the treeline and Judy found herself situated between two coyotes. She couldn't remember their names at the moment having only spoken to them in earnest two days ago and this morning. There were eight groups. After another bird call was issued the groups began to slowly and quietly crawl to the base of the palisade. The guards were silhouetted against the night sky and the waning moon, but there was enough light for both parties to see. It was now a matter of how attentive the Hopps' guards were.

Judy felt herself burn with the desire to move faster, but held herself in check. Fast movement would draw unwanted attention and the element of surprise would only last as long as the attackers could remain stealthy. She also had problems with her ears. Though they were tipped with black they were mostly grey and would stand out against the prairie grass. She wanted to have her ears up so she could hear _everything_ , but again the rabbit restrained herself, remembering her impromptu lesson from earlier.

Jerome had pointed out that Judy was prey and likely wouldn't know how to stalk and she didn't. Stalking was necessary to the plan however and so Nick, Jerome, and Fangmeyer had spent the late morning and early afternoon teaching her how to do so. She was already better at finding any mammal hunting her thanks to her ears, but stalking was something entirely new. She had asked why the three knew that and Nick and Fangmeyer looked slightly embarrassed. Jerome had looked at them and shrugged. He had never much interaction outside the tribe with the exception of Nick. Nick and Fangmeyer had explained that predator families still taught their children how to hunt and stalk and by extension how to avoid behavior that resembled hunting and stalking. Judy had never realised how many instincts the two had likely been suppressing around her.

The rabbit shook her head and refocused on the present. The tension was palpable and they were still fifteen meters away from the wall. Their quiet creep forward was ended when they heard the ringing notes of an alarm bell and the sharp crack of a rifle. This was followed shortly by more alarm bells and the howling of the coyotes both throughout the clearing and next to her. These sounds were followed by a rapid cascade of gunshots that rang through the cool night's air.

In a flash Judy was on her paws screaming, " _Group three to the wall! Get to the wall!"_

She began running as fast as she could, stepping from side to side so she wouldn't be an easy target, the coyotes with her following suite. One of her group stopped crouched and fired. She saw blood fly from the mammal on the wall in front of her and the mammal fall over the palisade to land on the ground in front her. The coyote carrying the grapple in her group threw it over as they reached the wall and the moment he pulled the makeshift rope taught Judy began scaling the wall. The moment she was over she drew her pistol and fired three rounds into the chest of the wolf who had been charging up the stairs to replace his comrade. On top of the guard tower she could see the rest of the small fort and she realised that there more mammals here than they had thought. Seeing that two of the buildings were essentially small barracks and had mammals trying to break out of them.

She began firing at the mammals emerging from the barracks with the small rifle she had been given by the coyotes and downed three of them before they realised the fire was coming from their own guard tower. They quickly returned fire forcing Judy to duck her head down. She turned and saw that the last her group was over the palisade and began issuing orders. _"You two, stay up here and keep this tower out of the Hopps' paws! You two get the grapple and drop it down the side of the tower! We can't get down the stairs and we need to get into the actual fort so we can help our comrades!"_

The Coyotes nodded and went about the tasks they had been ordered to do efficiently. She and the rest of her group began peeking out from their limited cover to fire shots at the Hopps' mammals who could be seen. Once the Coyotes had dropped the grapple down the side they went over and immediately came under fire from the group of Hopps' who been keeping them in the tower. Judy and most of the mammals in her group found cover from the withering fire but one didn't. She saw the blood spurt out of his chest as he stumbled back before falling to the ground. She saw one of the coyote's drop his rifle and have to be held back by his comrade. Another of her group had her arm grazed though she quickly stood up and shot the mammal who tried to shoot her. Judy stepped out from behind her cover and fired taking the head off the rabbit who had shot the male coyote.

The Hopps' Judy's group was fighting began taking fire from a different group and were quickly dispatched. No longer being fired at Judy stepped out and assessed what was going that she could see. The two barracks were currently being stormed by different groups and her group was right next to what she could only see as being the storeroom and led her group into the building.

They went through the maze of boxes, barrels, and packages as quickly as they could. They didn't check the contents of the containers being more worried about any Hopps who might be hiding in the building. There were none. Coming out of the storeroom they were found by a runner and asked to come to the command post. Once there they saw the rest of the groups each of which was on guard but no longer in a fighting stance.

It was over.

Quickly as it had begun and been, it was over.

Judy began to process what she had seen and felt the tears well up. She felt her legs collapse and she felt herself being caught by a pair of familiar russet arms. She felt those arms cradle her head and hold her close and she issued heart-wrenching sobs to the night's sky. She had been in gunfights before. She thought she had. Now she realised that the gunfights she had been in before had been mockeries of the real thing in which no one shot to really kill. The only time she had killed before this was when mammals had been wounded by her and refused to surrender. She had now killed outright. The difference between the two felt like night and day and she didn't know why. So Judy let herself be held by Nick as she sobbed into his arms.

=8=

 _A/N: Four months is a relatively short time on the cosmic scale. I'm sorry. Really, I am. You all deserve continuous updates, which I can not provide. Not yet. This is the last chapter that I'll be able to put out for a while as I'm going on a mandatory hiatus. Yes, mandatory. In May of last year I enlisted in the U.S. Army. I ship out tomorrow and today is the last day I have access to my PC. I will lose access to my phone tomorrow once I arrive at Basic which lasts ten weeks. I'll try to write or least brainstorm, but I make no promises. That said, THIS STORY WILL BE FINISHED (eventually)(and so will my other story but that'll likely come after this one). I'm not leaving this story unfinished or untold. To everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed during my scummy absence, Thank You. It is more than I deserve._


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